Audit & Accounting

Raymond James Financial Inc. announced an initiative that would require the restructuring of variable annuities offered through financial advisors at the firm's broker/dealer subsidiaries, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James & Associates.

Excess inventory retailer Overstock.com Inc. announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued the company a subpoena requesting information on accounting policies, targets and projections.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued an updated and expanded revision of a revenue procedure governing its popular voluntary correction program for employee retirement plans -- the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System.

Responding to continuing complaints from corporate America about the excessive cost of complying with Sarbanes-Oxley Act internal control audit reporting requirements, top officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board told accountants and private sector financial execs that relief is on the way.

Morgan Stanley & Co. will pay $15 million to settle a civil lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC said that the company failed to produce tens of thousands of e-mails it requested as part of a probe.

In one of the largest fines ever handed down to an individual charged with accounting fraud, a federal judge has ordered the former chairman and chief executive of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. to pay $22 million in penalties, interest and restitution.

Citing the disproportionate costs of Sarbanes-Oxley on small filers, GOP Senators Olympia Snowe of Maine and Mike Enzi of Wyoming are urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt "clear and practical" rules for small businesses with regards to SOX compliance.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is soliciting nominations for members of its Standing Advisory Group.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced that its next round of inspections would focus on the costs of internal control audits mandated under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Another federal regulator has publicly floated the idea of the government requiring the release of tax information from public companies.