Audit & Accounting

I have dealt with many tax acts in the 30-plus years that I have been in professional publishing. When I worked at a tax publisher, I know tax legislation meant an awful lot of work. In one way or another, I would be involved in assembling the Code-as-amended, analyzing the effective dates, excerpting legislative committee reports, and writing or reviewing analyses. Besides the work, the legislation would almost always seemed to come down at a bad time, usually at the end of the year as Congress was about to adjourn. It was a real pain.

The American Cancer Society has awarded KPMG LLP with the inaugural Eugene D. O'Kelly Award, named after the firm's former chairman who passed away in September 2005, only months after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

Ernst & Young Global has withdrawn a report it issued in early May, saying that its dollar estimate of the bad loans held by China's major state-sponsored banks was "factually erroneous."

Securities and Exchange commissioner Cynthia Glassman announced that she will not seek reappointment to the five-member panel when her term expires this summer.

CAL-BAY DISMISSES ARGY & CO.: Tustin, Calif.-based Cal-Bay International Inc. said that it dismissed its auditor, Argy & Co., and has named Lawrence Scharfman & Co. as its new independent accountant.The operator of environmental service units that sell and distribute environment and process control products in California, Nevada and Hawaii said that Argy & Co. had expressed doubts about the company's ability to continue as a going concern in its reports for the years ended Dec. 31, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2004.

The Institute of Internal Auditors has formally recommended that the requirement for an external auditor to attest to a company's internal controls be removed under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that it has reached an agreement with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards to offer continuing education credits at the IRS Nationwide Tax Forums scheduled for this summer.

A growing number of Americans recognize that they're not saving as much as they should for retirement, a shift in attitudes that experts hope will lead to improved saving practices in the future.

An independent report, backed by data from Big Four clients, shows that corporate auditing costs for Sarbanes-Oxley 404 compliance dropped significantly in 2005.

Online tax preparation services are using the Internal Revenue Service's Free File program to promote "get rich quick" schemes and overpriced refund anticipation loans to low-income taxpayers, some lawmakers have charged.In a sharply worded letter to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, placed much of the blame for these practices on the IRS officials who negotiated a new contract with 20 online tax prep companies to provide taxpayers with free electronic tax preparation and filing services during this tax season.