Audit & Accounting

Regulators are considering liquidating a unit of brokerage firm Refco Inc. that isn't under bankruptcy-court protection.

Timothy P. Flynn, chairman and chief executive of Big Four firm KPMG, has been appointed to the board of the Financial Accounting Foundation.

Lawrence A. West, associate director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement, will depart the regulator to become a partner at the Washington office of Latham & Watkins.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, the standard-setting body of the International Federation of Accountants, is seeking a chairperson for a three-year term beginning in January 2007.

Many large and midsized companies, which are required by the Internal Revenue Service to file their 2005 taxes electronically next year, have not begun preparing for the change, according to a recent poll conducted by Big Four firm KPMG.

Concluding six months of pro-bono assistance to the United Nations Development Program on the oversight of tsunami relief and reconstruction work, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP presented its final report on the project last week.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu announced aggregate revenues for its member firms totaled $18.2 billion for the 2005 fiscal year, a 10.9 percent increase from last year.

Joseph Nacchio, the former chief executive of Qwest Communications during the telecommunications company's multibillion-dollar accounting scandal, was indicted on 42 counts of insider trading for allegedly illegally selling more than $100 million in stock.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox recently met with representatives of the accounting and financial reporting software industry to express support for integrating interactive data capabilities into existing accounting and financial reporting software.

KPMG International published its 2005 Annual Review, which includes final combined revenue and growth figures achieved by KPMG member firms.