Accounting standards

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against the former CEO, CFO and treasurer of natural gas distributor Nicor, charging the Chicago-area company with financial fraud spanning the period of 1999 to 2002.

The American Institute of CPAs is criticizing proposed regulations for how post-death events might be considered in determining the value of a taxable estate.

Roel Campos, one of the two Democrats on the five-member Securities and Exchange Commission, announced plans to return to the private sector next month, further tipping the balance on the panel as the SEC continues to issue and enforce regulations affecting accountants.

Japanese GAAP is moving closer to International Financial Reporting Standards under an agreement that will accelerate the process.

Longstanding weaknesses in the financial systems of government agencies pose a "formidable challenge," according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board said it is looking for suggestions on whether it should pursue a project on accounting for insurance contracts, and whether it should team up with the International Accounting Standards Board, which has been working on a similar project.

Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell vetoed a bill that would have allowed Connecticut to set its own accounting standards."I have serious concerns about the potential fiscal impact this bill may have," said Rell. "The plain language of this bill would allow the comptroller to issue financial statements in whatever standards she prescribed."

It may seem belated, but the Governmental Accounting Standards Board has just recently gotten around to defining such fundamental accounting concepts as "asset" and "liability."It has also defined a pair of distinct financial statement elements that are new to accounting and whose definitions should clarify certain questions that have confounded governmental accountants and auditors for years.

Fewer taxpayers took advantage of the Internal Revenue Service's free electronic tax return filing service in 2007 than in previous years, according to a new audit report released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.Moreover, the audit identified multiple calculation errors made by the commercial software of Free File Alliance firms.

The more we consider what the Financial Accounting Standards Board accomplished with SFAS 159, the more we're warming up to the sea change it represents. This standard, titled "The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities," permits without requiring managers to account for financial assets and liabilities using their fair values, with unrealized gains and losses flowing through the income statement. Some have disparaged SFAS 159 for not mandating full fair-value reporting, while others have criticized its "optionality."We see it quite differently. For years we have endorsed the Quality Financial Reporting paradigm that calls managers to step out on their own and try to meet the needs of the capital markets for useful information. In effect, SFAS 159 provides a nudge in this direction by allowing, even encouraging, innovative managers to jump into QFR by applying fair value without waiting for everyone else to get into the pool. We've often said that the biggest rewards will go to those who start providing better financial statements, so we're gratified that FASB seems to have seen it our way.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun distributing $267 million to about 200,000 investors from the fund it set up as part of its settlement with Qwest Communications over allegations of accounting fraud.

The International Federation of Accountants is internationalizing its Web site and turning it into a veritable United Nations by translating key parts of it into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

A Securities and Exchange Commission advisory committee began meeting to consider ways to make financial reporting more understandable and relevant to investors.

General Electric vice president and comptroller Phillip Ameen has joined the advisory board of BNA Tax and Accounting's Accounting Policy & Practice Series.

Grant Thornton CEO Edward E. Nusbaum has worked with the firm for 28 years, but since he took over the helm, the Chicago-based firm has more than doubled its revenue in the last four years, reaching $940 million in 2006.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox says small public companies should start getting ready to comply with the stricter auditing rules of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but left open the possibility of another deferral of the requirement.

Huron Consulting Group has acquired Callaway Partners for $60 million in cash to add Callaway's finance and accounting project management expertise to Huron's financial and consulting services.

Carol Stacey, former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporate Finance, has become vice president of The SEC Institute, an organization that holds conferences and workshops around the country to explain SEC and PCAOB rules and regulations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the former chairman and CEO of Brooks Automation, Robert J. Therrien, with allegedly receiving over $10.4 million in undisclosed compensation by fraudulently backdating stock options.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's new internal control auditing standard, known as AS5, by a 5-0 vote.