Audit & Accounting

Compliance and accountability software provider Paisley Consulting, has sealed a deal with The Alliance for SOX 404 Compliance to provide SOX solutions to its member accounting firms.

A District Court Judge here has reportedly barred telecommunications giant MCI, formerly known as WorldCom, from making further payments to the accounting, law and consulting firms steering it through bankruptcy that haven't already been approved through the budgeting system set up by the court.

Ernst & Young has reportedly confirmed that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the firm over its role in designing and auditing financing vehicles allegedly used by PNC Financial Services Group to inflate profits.

To help fund President Bush's reform plan to add personal retirement accounts to the Social Security program, the White House admitted that it would probably use government borrowing to cover the oft-debated "transition financing" phase of a new program.

Five of the eight people charged in connection with an accounting fraud at discount retailer Kmart Corp. have settled the charges brought against them by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A mid-level House aide reportedly said that he was the one who added the controversial provision in last month's spending bill that would have given staffers on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees access to Americans' tax returns.

Ernst & Young has shed its investment banking arm by selling the practice to the consulting firm run by former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

Fewer than one-third of audit committees implement a majority of practices that lead to higher ratings of the financial audit process, according to a report by J.D. Power and Associates.

Filomeno & Company PC, an eight-partner CPA firm based here, has expanded its financial planning practice with the merger of fee-only planning firm Thibodeau Financial Advisors LLC into its fold.

Laura L. Cox, a high-level aide to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson, is departing the regulator to join Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as partner-in-charge of professional and governmental activities.