Accounting standards

After months of lobbying from businesses, it's beginning to appear that there's been some progress made in getting the Securities and Exchange Commission to reconsider parts of a proposal requiring companies to disclose the earnings of executives.

President Bush has nominated the chairman and chief executive of investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, Henry M. Paulson Jr., as Treasury Secretary.

I couldn't believe the number of American Idol votes. The voters couldn't have been just those in their teens and twenties. Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that the votes were being cast as I was flying back from attending the AICPA Spring Council meeting in Salt Lake City.

Public companies working on national defense or national security issues can now get an exemption from the reporting requirements governed by the Securities and Exchange Commission from the director of national intelligence.

On the heels of yet another in-depth report, this one delivered by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the top executive at home mortgage behemoth Fannie Mae said that his is a changed company.

Fannie Mae will pay $400 million to put an end to the accounting woes that have dogged the home mortgage giant since 2004.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will propose rules for annual and special reporting of information and events by accounting firms that are registered with the board.

Four months after offering new incentives for companies to furnish their financial information in computer-readable interactive data format, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that another trio of firms has joined the fun.

The International Federation of Accountants has issued its 2005 annual report, highlighting the update of its code of ethics, as well as the formal establishment of the Public Interest Oversight Board.

President Bush has nominated Republican Kathleen Casey, currently serving as staff director for the Senate Banking Committee, to replace Cynthia Glassman at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the accounting profession must stand strong in advocating for more transparent financial disclosure and serve as a model for the rest of the world

Less than six months into the job, t he International Accounting Standards Board chairman has stepped down to take the position of Italian finance minister.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced a series of actions to improve implementation of the Section 404 internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Thomas J. Linsmeier, the chairman of the accounting department at Michigan State University, was named a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board this week.

Securities and Exchange commissioner Cynthia Glassman announced that she will not seek reappointment to the five-member panel when her term expires this summer.

An independent report, backed by data from Big Four clients, shows that corporate auditing costs for Sarbanes-Oxley 404 compliance dropped significantly in 2005.

Online tax preparation services are using the Internal Revenue Service's Free File program to promote "get rich quick" schemes and overpriced refund anticipation loans to low-income taxpayers, some lawmakers have charged.In a sharply worded letter to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, placed much of the blame for these practices on the IRS officials who negotiated a new contract with 20 online tax prep companies to provide taxpayers with free electronic tax preparation and filing services during this tax season.

Make no mistake about it: The Institute of Management Accountants supports the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It has even said that the legislation was long overdue.But that doesn't mean that the IMA thinks SOX is working.

Almost nine full years have passed since the $250,000/$500,000 exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal residence first became available. Little did many of us imagine how much would change in nine years.While the basic sale-of-a-principal-residence provision has remained the same, except for some minor congressional tinkering, the world in which it lives has not. The real estate "boom," capital gains rate reduction, subsequent rulings and other developments have all played a part in making this a particularly dynamic area of tax planning. A review of recent trends and developments over the past year is especially illuminating.

In four months flat, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has cranked out a proposal for a new standard on accounting for post-retirement benefit plans, including pensions.Not only has the board been quick to write the proposal, but it may be quick to implement it as well. If approved soon, it will be effective for fiscal years ending after Dec. 15, 2006.