Audit & Accounting

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed fraud charges against a health care financial services company after it allegedly provided investors with forged financial statements and audit reports to lure them into a $75 million investment scheme.

Officials from the Security and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board cautioned a group of auditors against placing too much reliance on specialists hired for their expertise in areas such as fair value measurement.

Looking forward to 2010, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is bracing for a surge in litigation from the targets of its enforcement staff, a series of new regulatory responsibilities triggered by the Madoff Ponzi scheme, and corner-cutting by accounting firms squeezed by the ongoing economic crisis.

The dispute between Overstock.com and Grant Thornton heated up after the Internet retailer’s chief accused the firm of “inconsistencies and inaccurate statements.”

For the first time, the Securities and Exchange Commission has distributed more than $2 billion in a single calendar year to injured investors as a result of SEC enforcement actions and proceedings.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board has published a paper questioning how financial statements can provide more information about the long-term sustainability of current government programs.

CCH and Grant Thornton have teamed up to produce IFRS Tax Manager, an online guide to International Financial Reporting Standards, aimed at helping tax, audit and accounting professionals comply with tax accounting and reporting standards under IFRS.

CaseWare IDEA and Houston-based Audimation Services have launched SymSure for IDEA continuous auditing and monitoring risk management software.

XBRL US Labs has issued a call for research partners to expand the research and development projects it already has underway and named its first three research fellows.

A new survey of corporate accountants found that 46 percent said their company could do more to prepare for recovery and another 8 percent believe their company is poorly prepared for recovery.