Audit & Accounting

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to address the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance burden by scaling-back testing and documentation requirements for smaller public companies.

A senior accountant at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and a former Ernst and Young partner have agreed to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they played a role in PNC filing reports that inflated the company’s 2001 earnings.

A federal banking regulator has fined Grant Thornton LLP $300,000 for “reckless conduct” in performing a 1998 audit of the failed First National Bank of Keystone.

A proposal from the Financial Accounting Standards Board would require companies to provide more information about the effects of derivative and hedging activities on financial statements.

PWC SURVEY FINDS BOARD MEMBERS CONCERNED ABOUT FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS: Nearly 75 percent of board members at U.S. financial services firms said that the increasing use of sophisticated financial instruments such as derivatives will be the next big area of regulatory focus for the financial industry, according to a survey conducted by Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.Meanwhile, a near-unanimous 97 percent of board members polled said that the level of due diligence and understanding of sophisticated financial instruments being used in the market should be a major concern for board members.

LBMC Investment Advisors LLC said that it recently surpassed the $200 million mark of assets under advisement. Formed in 1998 as an affiliate of Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain PC - Tennessee's largest regional accounting and business consulting firm - LBMC Investment Advisors has offices in Brentwood and Knoxville, Tenn.

The Tax Policy Center has released a series of data tables taking a look at the effect of the major tax changes enacted since 2001.For each table, the center compares the amount of tax owed under current law with the amount that would have been paid if the law had stayed the same as it was in 2000. Estimates are computed both for dollar-income classes (for example, $40,000 to $50,000) and for percentiles of income distribution (for example, middle quintile, which includes households in the middle 20 percent of the income distribution).

In a long-awaited move, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has proposed new accounting for mergers and acquisitions by not-for-profit organizations.Reflecting a proposed standard on for-profit business combinations, Not-for-Profit Organizations: Mergers and Acquisitions proposes the elimination of the pooling-of-interests method, the measurement of assets and liabilities at fair value, and the recognition of goodwill upon initial recognition of another entity, be it for-profit or not-for-profit.

Senators Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Max Baucus, D-Mont., struck an agreement with House lawmakers on bipartisan, bicameral legislation to extend expired and expiring tax, health, trade, and other provisions.

New York — A majority of companies have instituted formal anti-fraud programs and controls as a response to the heightened regulatory environment, according to an online poll recently released by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services.