Audit & Accounting

Sounding a familiar warning, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board criticized Ernst & Young and KPMG for failing to follow accounting rules or gather sufficient evidence for judgments in a number of audits.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently settled civil fraud charges against the former general counsel of Comverse Technology Inc.

I just returned from Las Vegas where I attended the AICPA personal financial planning conference and where I also made an opening day presentation to a packed house awarding the Institute the Special Award of Excellence from CPA Wealth Provider. In 2006, the AICPA launched a nationwide effort to encourage Americans ages 25 to 34 to “feed the pig” as a key step toward building a solid financial future for themselves and their families.Actually, Feed the Pig is a national multi-media public-service announcement campaign sponsored by the Institute and the Ad Council. Featuring Benjamin Bankes, a smartly dressed, adult-size pig who evokes memories of the piggy bank, the campaign delivers a strong message about the importance and benefits of savings. It is a noteworthy effort and I decided to put it to the test not for 25-to-34-year -olds but rather for the 6-to-11 mob, my grandchildren.

Oregon’s Aldrich Kilbride & Tatone LLC has increased its staff 50 percent by merging with a San Diego firm. In a separate deal, Cleveland’s SS&G Financial Services Inc. announced that it has acquired an Ohio neighbor.Financial terms of both mergers were not disclosed.

The board of directors of McGladrey & Pullen LLP has elected David R. Scudder to the post of managing partner.

What kind of company processes payroll and credit card and check payments, and offers banking services and account aggregation? Increasingly, the answer is an accounting software company.

Dixon Hughes PLLC has acquired West Virginia’s Simpson & Osborne AC, while Maryland’s Katz, Abosch, Windesheim, Gershman & Freedman PA recently announced its own acquisition of Annapolis, Md.-based Siebert Kullman PA.

In a brief filed Monday in federal appeals court, 30 states said that a number of investment banks are liable for their alleged role in Enron Corp.’s accounting fraud.

Two major standards setters have announced the 18 members of a new international working group established as part of a joint project to reconsider their standards on lease accounting.

Neal D. Spencer, partner-in-charge of BKD LLP's Kentucky and southern Indiana offices, will take over the reins of the entire firm this summer.