Accounting standards

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to adopt a new auditing standard on engagement quality review and to issue a concept release on requiring the engagement partner to sign the audit report.

The International Accounting Standards Board has issued amendments to its rules for companies adopting International Financial Reporting Standards for the first time to allow some exemptions.

Norwalk, Conn. - Governments have always found it difficult to properly report fund balances when the uses of various fund amounts were restricted in a number of ways. A dollar that couldn't be spent did not combine well with a dollar that could only be spent for a specific purpose, or a general fund dollar that could be spent without constraint.

Can anything good come out of a $65 billion Ponzi scheme?

The economic downturn, coupled with proposals to make the Research and Development Credit permanent, the potential repeal of LIFO, and higher individual tax rates under the Obama administration, could significantly reshape the landscape of S corps over the next several years."For planning purposes, the proposal to make the R&D Credit permanent has significance because it will affect what types of investments companies will make," explained Rick Klahsen, managing director at RSM McGladrey's national tax department. "However, the proposed repeal of the LIFO inventory method would have a tremendous negative impact on S corporations. Many S corporations are manufacturers, and the loss of the LIFO method will cost them in terms of additional taxable income. It will cause them to take a look at the types of inventory investments they might make."

Washington, D.C.-In the wake of several high-profile Ponzi schemes - most notably, the $65 billion fraud perpetrated by the now-jailed Bernard Madoff - the Internal Revenue Service has issued new guidance for victims of these types of schemes and their tax preparers.

Among the many changes born of the financial crisis that's sweeping the globe are changes in internal auditing departments.

About a year ago, we began hearing a clamor that accountants exacerbated the financial debacle by reporting market values in financial statements. In turn, accountants ducked the blame by arguing strongly that the Financial Accounting Standards Board was at fault for requiring investment market values to be reported. These complaints have continued to this day.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board isconsidering making changes in the standards for audit confirmations after arecent wave of auditing scandals.

Seventy-five percent of finance professionals support the movement toward a single set of high-quality global accounting standards, according to a new survey by Deloitte.

Canada’s Accounting Standards Board said that it has not yet made a decision on whether to change its fair value standards to match up with U.S. standards.

The International Federation of Accountants has endorsed a set of proposals made at last week’s G-20 Summit of world leaders that aim to reform the global financial regulatory system.

The Monitoring Board that was recently established to add more public accountability to the International Accounting Standards Board has held its inaugural meeting and picked its first leader.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a “plain English” summary of the board’s actions when it modified the standards for fair value and mark-to-market accounting in response to congressional demands.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has revoked the license of an Arizona CPA and filed charges accusing him of running a $67 million Ponzi scheme.

Washington, D.C.-The Internal Revenue Service has decided not to renew its contracts with two private debt collection agencies.The IRS said that the decision came after an extensive review of the controversial program. A provision to end the private debt collection program was inserted into the omnibus spending bill that is currently before the Senate.

Are you able to get what you need from reviewing financial statements? Do you think there are ways to enhance the usefulness of the presentation of the information?If you have ever experienced frustration in your attempts to glean information from financial statements, take note. The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have joined together in a proposal to improve the look and feel of financial statements.

Accounting experts and industry organizations alternately praised and panned the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s decision to loosen the standards for fair value and mark-to-market accounting.

Under pressure from Congress to act quickly, the Financial Accounting Standards Board voted to approve substantial changes to fair value accounting.

A new report suggests that companies adopting the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s recent proposals on modifying mark-to-market and fair value accounting standards should provide more extensive disclosures to help investors make sense of the impaired assets.