Audit & Accounting

Customers are best served and protected when they have many competitive alternatives. We are suspicious of self-serving monopolies. Of course, as sellers, we all want to be monopolies, with little competition, and the ability to charge high prices, bar entry to potential competitors, be able to rest on our past successes, and not have to perform the difficult job of constant innovation and experimentation where value is determined by the external customer, not internal industry standards, credentials or ineffective government regulations.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has made changes in two of its standards related to off-balance-sheet items to require companies to make more disclosures of special-purpose entities, and to practically eliminate the exemption for qualifying special-purpose entities.

Over a third of U.S. CPAs said they want to become more familiar with international accounting standards, but most of them don’t know how much the standards will cost their companies to implement.

Five trade groups representing banks, financial service firms and insurance companies sent a joint letter to Congress registering continued displeasure with fair value and mark-to-market accounting and impairment rules, despite recent changes.

Research firm Audit Integrity issued a negative report to investors and auditing firms about Starbucks Corp., warning that the coffee retailer rates poorly on several risk factors, including equity risk, class-action litigation and financial restatements.

BDO Seidman memorialized the passing of former managing partner and FDIC Chairman L. William “Bill” Seidman, a member of the firm’s founding family.

NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer thinks accounting firms are charging small companies too much to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and suggested the SEC may pressure the firms to reduce their fees.

A report by Fitch Ratings calls into question the cost-effectiveness of the improvements in financial statement presentation proposed by FASB and its international counterpart.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board wants to know more about how government accountants in developing countries are using cash-basis reporting.

New accounting standards effective at the beginning of 2009 will impact the accounting for mergers and acquisitions.