Audit & Accounting

With trillion-dollar deficits, cap-and-trade and nationalized health care on the horizon, the issues involving the possible registering and licensing of tax preparers seem trivial. Yet the ability to fund the deficits and pay for a nationalized health care system ultimately depends on the ability of the federal government to collect tax.

The SEC has approved rules requiring public accounting firms registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to report events such as legal proceedings and changes in a firm’s contact information within 30 days to the PCAOB, as well as file annual reports on disciplinary matters and other issues.

The Government Accounting Standards Board has drafted proposed standards for local government bankruptcies, and is giving interested parties until August 28 to comment.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board may expand the use of mark-to-market accounting to the loans held by banks.

The American Bankers Association has released a letter and white paper raising concerns over the process taken by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board in their financial instruments projects.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has published two lists of accounting firms that have not yet been inspected and jurisdictions in which it has inspected registered non-U.S. firms.

IMGCAP(1)]The Financial Accounting Standards Board took plenty of heat in April for loosening mark-to-market guidelines, a move that critics assailed as a gift to the financial industry and a nod to political pressures.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board plans to draft proposed updates to fair value accounting standards with new disclosure requirements.

CCH has released the latest version of its TeamMate audit management software with enhanced management reportlng and issues-tracking features.

IMGCAP(1)] All too often, professional leadership seminars fail to live up to their potential for lively, intellectually engaging discussions about current issues and those on the forefront. I recently returned from the AICPA’s Inaugural Leadership Academy in Chicago where 28 young CPAs discussed topics affecting accountants everywhere.