Audit & Accounting

Just because the idea of violating a patented tax strategy sounds ridiculous on its face doesn’t mean you won’t get sued for using it.Currently, some 65 tax patents have been issued, and 109 more are pending, according to Eileen Sherr, technical manager at the American Institute of CPAs’ Tax Division. “Many of these are common twists on everyday transactions,” observed Sherr, who attended a recent Internal Revenue Service hearing on the issue.

The Treasury Department has released a blueprint for overhauling the regulation of financial markets to forestall future crises in the mortgage and credit markets.Under the blueprint, there would be a “conduct of business regulator” to monitor the business conduct of financial firms. The agency would assume many of the roles of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and insurance and banking regulators. The blueprint also envisions a “corporate finance regulator” that would encompass the SEC’s oversight of accounting regs.

Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson is putting new pressure on lawmakers to establish nationwide standards that would weed out bad-apple tax practitioners and serve to protect the more than 60 percent of taxpayers who rely on paid tax preparers.In bluntly worded testimony suggesting that she is losing patience with both Congress and her own agency, Olson called on the House Ways and Means Committee to move forward on proposals to rein in rogue tax preparers and protect American taxpayers from other forms of abuse.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed enforcement actions against global advertising network McCann-Erickson Worldwide, its parent company Interpublic Group of Companies, and two of its former executives, charging them with accounting fraud.

The total average cost of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance reached $1.7 million last year, according to a newly released survey.

The American Institute of CPAs found a range of responses when it surveyed Americans on how they intend to use their tax rebates.

Revenue at accounting firm J.H. Cohn rose 26 percent to $221,371,000 for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2008.

Accounting software developer Intacct has raised $15 million in financing led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to bar a former Arthur Andersen audit partner from appearing or practicing before the commission for at least five years.

While U.S. and international accounting standards seem set on an inevitable convergence path, some are worried that the U.S. approach may end up becoming a bad influence on International Financial Reporting Standards.