Audit & Accounting

MCI agreed to pay $100 million in cash to the state of Mississippi for back taxes the state claimed were owed by the company's predecessor, WorldCom.

A crackdown on abusive tax shelters that includes codifying the economic substance doctrine would create legal booby traps for small businesses and open the door for new abuses by unscrupulous tax shelter promoters, the American Institute of CPAs warned Congress.

The NASD has censured and fined Raymond James & Associates Inc. and Raymond James Financial Services Inc. $750,000 for violations relating to the firms' fee-based brokerage business.

The number of internal controls weaknesses related to lease accounting issues jumped more than 10 percent in April, according to a report released this week.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is soliciting nominations and re-nominations to fill 14 slots on its Standing Advisory Group.

Saks Inc. asked three of its top executives, including its chief accounting officer, to resign, following an investigation by its audit committee related to the improper collection of vendor markdown allowances in one of its merchandising divisions.

A newly issued revenue procedure, Rev. Proc. 2005-28, makes it easier for some taxpayers to adopt a simpler method of allocating and apportioning interest expenses in determining their net U.S. and foreign-source income for foreign tax credit purposes.

In response to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's recent proposal on the Hierarchy of GAAP, the American Institute of CPAs has issued an exposure draft introducing a proposed Statement on Auditing Standards that would apply only to nongovernmental entities.

In spite of President Bush's recent efforts to push his plan to overhaul Social Security, a majority of Americans surveyed disapprove of Bush's handling of the issue, according to a recent poll.

The Financial Planning Association, Moss Adams LLP and SEI Advisor Network are seeking financial planners to participate in their biennial compensation and staffing benchmark study.