Audit & Accounting

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is going back to that deep, dark place where accounting standards come from - the conceptual framework that underlies it all.

We have been writing on the Conceptual Framework in response to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's announced intent to strengthen it. We've discussed the objective of financial reporting, the political situation and its problems, the overarching importance of cash flows, and the nature of relevance and reliability.

Securities and Exchange Commission chief accountant Donald Nicolaisen is scheduled to testify this week before a House subcommittee about the commission's decision that Fannie Mae violated accounting rules.

In his State of the Union address this week, President Bush pushed his plan to overhaul Social Security and add optional private accounts for younger workers, as the White House unveiled some new details of how that plan would work.

Holtz Rubenstein Reminick LLP, based here, has expanded its litigation and valuation services group via a merger with Long Island-based Rand Consulting Group Inc., a boutique firm specializing in litigation support, forensic accounting and valuation services.

Thomas Wilson, former Large and Mid-Size Business Division industry director for the telecommunications, media, high technology, publishing, entertainment, sports and gaming industries at the Internal Revenue Service, has joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a managing director in the Washington National Tax Service's IRS Service Team, the Big Four firm said.

American Express Co. said that it will spin-off its American Express Financial Advisors unit to shareholders to focus on its credit cards, charge cards and travel services businesses.

The U.S. occupation authority in Iraq tasked with overseeing the use of money appropriated by Congress for relief and reconstruction there didn't have proper accounting controls for $8.8 billion in funds, a report released this week alleged.

Most chief executives of America's fastest-growing private companies say that they're likely to step down within the next 10 years, but almost half have put little to no thought into succession planning, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Fannie Mae has reportedly recruited former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Richard C. Breeden to help it deal with a potential $9 billion restatement, while its former chief executive has relinquished two board seats.