Audit & Accounting

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to delay inspections of foreign accounting firms for up to three years after hearing an outcry over the legality of the inspections from regulators and firms overseas.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has proposed a new standard for disclosures about the credit quality of financing receivables and the allowance for credit losses.

A study by KPMG found that goodwill impairments more than doubled during 2008 from 2007 levels at a cross-section of U.S.-based public companies.

Now that the largest public companies in the U.S. are scheduled to begin filing their financial statements using Extensible Business Reporting Language data-tagging technology this year, financial regulators are weighing additional areas to leverage the technology, said industry representatives at an XBRL International Conference in Paris.

Credit-rating agency Fitch Ratings said in a new report that it does not expect FASB’s recent amendments to off-balance-sheet accounting standards to result in negative rating actions, but it believes there will be challenges for issuers and analysts in transitioning to the new standards.

Nine trade groups representing the financial, insurance, banking, real estate and other industries have united to create a coalition with the goal of influencing accounting standard-setters who are working on revising the rules for financial instruments.

New York’s new accountancy reform law, which goes into effect July 26, 2009, broadens the definition of the scope of practice of public accountancy to include all professional services provided by a CPA.

A new study of accounting-related fraud in Western Europe has found substantial differences in the approach taken to International Financial Reporting Standards by different countries and companies.

A jury in Miami has found BDO International not liable for failing to uncover fraud in audits conducted by its U.S. member firm, BDO Seidman.

IMGCAP(1)]Samuel A. DiPiazza, Jr., has some thoughts to share about the accounting profession, his firm and the state of the economy, before his retirement, after having served as CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited since 2002.