Audit & Accounting

Although Congress has authorized tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks to help American families cope with rising college costs, millions of taxpayers are failing to cash in on this government assistance.

The Internal Revenue Service said victims of Hurricane Katrina will have until Jan. 3, 2006 to file any returns, pay any taxes, or make any deposits due -- extending an earlier announced reprieve.

A federal judge dismissed a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint accusing the former chief financial officer at Halliburton Co.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will soon give companies more guidance on how to value stock options, according to published reports.

New accounting rules from the Financial Accounting Standards Board will require companies to treat stock options and grants as expenses after Jan. 1, although some companies ending their fiscal year in June will start expensing options against income in this quarter.

The American Institute of CPAs and the Internal Revenue Service launched a partnership aimed at providing assistance to taxpayers at local disaster recovery centers established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The effects of Hurricane Katrina will be considered "ordinary events" for financial-reporting purposes, according to published reports of a statement by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

BearingPoint Inc., a spinoff from KPMG's former consulting business, said that the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a formal investigation of the company.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said that they would waive the tax-credit regulations that prohibit owners of low-income housing providing housing to victims of Hurricane Katrina who don't qualify as "low income."

The Securities and Exchange Commission has joined the growing list of companies and agencies mobilizing to provide relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.