Audit & Accounting

Pension reform had a longer shelf life than anticipated, finally winning legislative approval after a number of false steps.The Pension Protection Act of 2006 passed the House by a margin of 279 to 131. Meanwhile, the Senate voted 93 to 5 to approve the bill, clearing it for President Bush's signature.

"The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator. This means that he should be able to justify every purchase he makes and each price he pays by impersonal, objective reasoning that satisfies him that he is getting more than his money's worth for his purchase."

Nationwide bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc., operator of book stores under the Barnes & Noble and B. Dalton brands, has received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York requesting documents on its practice of awarding stock options.The company said that it intends to cooperate fully with the probe.

Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service for possible tax reporting violations, according to a published report.

China's government has told its auditors to maintain a clean image after one of their colleagues reportedly died of alcohol poisoning while on an auditing assignment.

After nine years, a federal report says that college tuition tax credits aren't necessarily providing the boon originally intended for poorer families.

Edward W. Trott, a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board since 1999, will step down from his position in June 2007.

The New York State Society of Public Accountants, the oldest state accounting association, representing approximately 30,000 CPAs, has offered certain suggestions regarding pending legislation in Congress affecting estate planning-- specifically emphasizing the pressing need for certainty and ease of administration with respect to the transfer tax.

Home mortgage giant Fannie Mae said that it won't face criminal charges over the company's massive accounting irregularities.

The widening options-timing scandal contributed mightily to a record-setting number of large U.S. corporations filing late financial reports for the second quarter, according to a study from market research firm Glass Lewis & Co.