Audit & Accounting

Our most recent column ("To the SEC: Forget the timetable and stop the runaway train," March 15-April 18) reported that the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are racing to complete a long list of major projects. We warned that this dash will produce less than the best standards, and promised to describe some specifics, leases in particular.

Washington, D.C.-A series of freshly reconstituted riskassessment audit standards proposed by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board have come under fire from the Government Accountability Office.

Chief audit executives and internal audit directors and managers are noticing improvements in staffing and budgets this year after a brutal 2009, according to a new survey.

IMGCAP(1)]Since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Auditing Standard No. 5 were issued, momentum continues to shift towards continuous monitoring or automation solutions.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have published a report detailing their progress to date on achieving convergence of U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards.

The kickoff meeting of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Standard Setting for Private Companies showed there isn’t a lot of agreement among privately held companies and their accountants on exactly what constitutes generally accepted accounting principles.

Check out the digital edition of the April 19-May 9, 2010 issue of Accounting Today by clicking here.

IMGCAP(1)]While Congress and accountants continue to fight the Sarbanes-Oxley 404 requirements for small filers on what seems like an annual basis, those in the private sector continue to deploy SOX-related policies and procedures as best practices. This trend will continue as the cost of compliance becomes more efficient.

A “blue ribbon panel” looking to improve the accounting standards for private companies wants to find out why so many are not strictly complying with GAAP.

The American Institute of CPAs is encouraging more CPA firms and college professors to teach forensic accountants the skills they need to ferret out financial chicanery.