Audit & Accounting

In an effort to assist auditors, regulators and top management with a methodology for identifying which IT controls should be tested as part of an annual assessment of internal controls, the Institute of Internal Auditors has released GAIT -- the Guide to the Assessment of IT General Controls Scope Based on Risk.

The complexity of the tax code, the widening tax gap and private debt collection sit atop National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson's list of the most serious problems facing taxpayers.The recently released report also cited the oversight of unenrolled return preparers, correspondence delays, concerns about the Office of Appeals, and lengthy processing times for injured spouse relief.

Resurgent House Democrats are on a collision course with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the need for restrictions on corporate executive compensation - an issue Republican lawmakers managed to keep bottled up despite repeated reports of corporate pay abuses during the last Congress.Leading the charge for reform is corporate America's worst congressional nightmare: Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, who has long championed legislation to force the SEC to take a stronger stance against excessive compensation for boardroom big shots.

If the plans of the Financial Accounting Standards Board come to fruition, 2007 will represent a historic year in international accounting - a giant leap forward in global financial efficiency.It was just four years ago that FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board decided to get serious about their efforts to converge U.S. and international standards. They planned to move ahead on two fronts: one toward the short-term convergence of relatively simple issues, the other toward convergence of issues that were either relatively complex or controversial.

A ballooning number of corruption scandals at non-profits may result in more NFPs adopting tighter policies and procedures according to global CPA and business advisory firm Grant Thornton.

There is this guy I see on the train Monday to Friday going to work. He must weigh at least 450 pounds, give or take a kilo. Where do you think he works? No, change that, what kind of store do you think he owns? You’re right. It’s a sandwich/pastry shop.Now plunking a fellow like that down into handling food all day doesn’t seem very rational but let’s look at it from the other end of the telescope. I haven’t decided yet what this has to do with financial planning but it certainly will have something to do with wealth accumulation. Besides, my wife tells me my columns are getting boring because they’re all about the same subjects: financial planning, estate planning, retirement planning. Sorry, that’s what I do.

Companies don’t believe broad-based tax reform is coming anytime soon, though they do think that the change of control in Congress will have a significant impact on tax policy, according to a survey conducted by a Washington law firm.

William H. Donaldson, who co-founded the investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and later became chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has joined Perella Weinberg Partners as chairman of its advisory council, the firm announced yesterday.

A jury in Cobb County, Ga., has levied a $10 million judgment against PricewaterhouseCoopers, finding that the firm was guilty of negligent misrepresentation during the 1996 merger of nursing-home companies Convalescent Services and Mariner Health Group.

A provision in the president's budget proposals could shelter 529 college-savings plans from being counted in determining federal student financial aid.