Audit & Accounting

TIAA-CREF's handling of an auditor independence issue that led to the resignations of two company trustees last December was "ultimately successful, although there were substantial missteps" along the way, according to a report released Thursday.

Reporting standards -- despite their complexity -- should be an exercise in honest communication, not merely an exercise in compliance, regulators and standard-setters told attendees at a financial reporting conference here.

Super-regional firm Plante & Moran has expanded its services and presence in the Chicagoland area with the addition of Wetmore & Associates, a boutique firm specializing in benefit plan audits.

The Securities and Exchange Commission this week filed fraud charges against Richmond, Va.-based paperboard and plastic packaging supplier Chesapeake Corp. and four of its former executives in connection with the company's 2000 restatements.

The Global Center for Leadership & Business Ethics has named two business executives and a scientist as the 2005 inaugural winners of its Laureate Award & Medal Series for their achievements in leadership, corporate governance and social responsibility.

The chief executives of the nation's fastest growing private companies have raised their sights for both revenue growth and new hiring over the next 12 months, but fewer are planning major new investments of capital, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has published an exposure draft to rank generally accepted accounting principles.

Driven in part by costs associated with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, Fortune 1000 firms have paid more than $3.6 billion for their 2004 audits, up from $2.2 billion in 2003, according to a report by accounting professors at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Shifts by the Internal Revenue Service from a focus on taxpayer service to enforcement, and of the management of the Business Systems Modernization program from contractors to staff entail risks, according to the Government Accountability Office.

As founding partner of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP, Melvyn I. Weiss is generally considered one of the country's premier class-action litigators, particularly in the areas of accounting and securities fraud.