Accounting standards

The American Institute of CPAs has asked the Internal Revenue Service to clarify the deductibility of health insurance premiums covering S corporation shareholders.

Beleaguered health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. announced that a Securities and Exchange Commission probe of the stock-options practices has been formalized.

Philadelphia, the city in which our Founding Fathers created the words to govern our country, this month housed the fathers of another language -- one they hope businesses in every nation will adopt to turn financial reporting from a tower of babble into a world of ubiquitous fluency. Backers of the Extensible Business Reporting Language expressed excitement over their progress in enticing companies to conduct internal reporting and regulatory filings in this format. Roughly 500 people from 27 countries attended the 14th international conference, which indicates increased interest from last fall’s showing of 300, but not necessarily increased understanding. At least conference organizers foresaw the dilemma and astutely prepared novices, even promising “compelling” demos free of technical jargon to prove that XBRL applications can make life easier for accountants, auditors, and investors looking to do everything from internal budgeting on Excel spreadsheets to quantitative analysis for investment management.

After four months, the Securities and Exchange Commission has already revisited its rule on disclosing executive compensation.In a statement issued Dec. 22, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said that the new requirements will make it easier for companies to prepare statements and for investors to understand the cost of stock options.

A CPA will take over as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s chief financial officer and associate executive director of finance.The appointee, Kristine Chadwick, had most recently served as the chief financial officer for the Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency, Foreign Agricultural Service, and Commodity Credit Corporation. She will replace Margaret Carpenter, who is retiring in January after 32 years in the federal government.

As federal regulators continue tweaking new public accounting rules, opponents of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act will find more fuel for their argument in the news that Hong Kong passed over New York in 2006 to become the world's second most popular place for companies to issue new stock listings.London remained at the top of the list.

For the business community, going public has always been where the real money is.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has revoked the registration of Armando C. Ibarra PC of Chula Vista, Calif., and censured Dallas-based Turner, Stone & Co. LLP, citing violations of PCAOB guidelines and auditing standards uncovered during its inspection process.

The Internal Revenue Service is lifting a moratorium on determination letter applications for conversions from traditional defined benefit pension plans to so-called cash balance plans.

As expected, President Bush signed a massive bill that would extend expiring tax, health and trade legislation.

In a nod to opponents and critics who complained about the costs of internal controls audits, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board voted unanimously to circulate a proposal that would trim down the amount of testing necessary to evaluate internal controls over the financial reporting process.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve Board have jointly released rules to implement “broker” exceptions for banks.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board released an exposure draft on pensions that would bring current disclosure requirements for governments and governmental pension plans into line with those recently issued for other post-employment benefits.

Tax research and products provider RIA, a Thomson business, has upgraded its proprietary Checkpoint service, adding a research tool that can be used for tax and auditing simultaneously.The "bridge" comes in the form of RIA sister company PPC's e-Practice Aids, Microsoft Word and Excel versions of all of the editable practice aids in the related PPC Guide, including those from WG&L, and materials from the Securities and Exchange Commission.PPC's e-Practice Aids work with paperless engagement software or with Word and Excel."One thing we heard from our customers, tax people were saying 'There was a reason we work in taxes, because we didn't want to do auditing'" said Ron Burkett, RIA's director of product management, in response to Sarbanes-Oxley. "It helps them bridge over to something they may not be that familiar with."Checkpoint is featuring a series of other enhancements as well, including a customized home page capability, which allows users to customize their research platform by selecting from a list of predefined views including accounting and auditing; corporate finance; tax; and estate and retirement planning, and decide their significance. In addition, users can create their own home page by selecting the content panes based on content they subscribe to that best fits their research needs. For more information about Checkpoint, visit http://ria.thomson.com or call (800)-950-1216.

Noted professional and college football coach Lou Saban was at the helm of the Denver Broncos who, on opening day in 1971, were unexpectedly giving the then-powerhouse Miami Dolphins the fight of their lives.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has hired Stephen Cutler, the former chief of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, as its top legal officer.Cutler, 45, left the SEC last year after playing a central role in the agency's investigations into historic corporate fraud and trading abuses. Since leaving the SEC, Cutler has been working at Washington-based Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where he is a partner and co-chairs the securities practice. Cutler will begin working at the bank in February as its executive vice president and general counsel.

The Securities and Exchange Commission stopped well short of proposing exemptions from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s internal control provisions that many small companies had loudly lobbied for at the panel’s Wednesday meeting.Under the guidance proposed by the SEC, executives would evaluate the design of only those financial controls that might carry the risk of having a material impact on financial statements.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to address the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance burden by scaling-back testing and documentation requirements for smaller public companies.

A senior accountant at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and a former Ernst and Young partner have agreed to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they played a role in PNC filing reports that inflated the company’s 2001 earnings.

A proposal from the Financial Accounting Standards Board would require companies to provide more information about the effects of derivative and hedging activities on financial statements.