Audit & Accounting

Symbol Technologies Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Telxon Corp., has settled a lawsuit against former auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers for $18 million.

The U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced proposed regulations that provide further guidance to Section 482, which determines taxable income in connection with cost-sharing arrangements affecting intellectual property.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has officially called for a suspension of the International Accounting Standards Board's financial reporting standards convergence program, saying the board's proposal would create high costs and significant uncertainties for unlisted companies.

Earnings for financial planners have risen 27 percent from their 2004 levels according to a survey conducted by the College for Financial Planning in conjunction with the Financial Planning Association.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against two former officers of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. for allegedly orchestrating a fraudulent earnings management scheme through channel stuffing.

Reports say KPMG LLP is close to putting behind it a federal investigation into its sale of possibly illegal tax shelters.

Two former top Kmart executives face Securities and Exchange Commission charges for misleading investors about Kmart's financial condition in the months preceding the retailer claiming bankruptcy in January 2002.

British consulting group Lane Clark & Peacock said that the pension deficits for Britain's top 100 companies by market value totaled more than $66 billion as of July, and could affect the way businesses using the new International Financial Reporting Standards are run.

Grant Thornton LLP said that a Chicago judge has recommended that a case brought against the law firm regarding its bank auditing work be dismissed.

Although other states have reportedly considered the strategy, Mississippi is expected to be the first to file criminal charges against Big Four firm KPMG, in connection with benefit tax work the company performed for WorldCom.