Accounting standards

Broker/dealers who are not registered as investment advisors must now give brokerage customers a disclosure stating that their interests may not always be the same as their customers.

Cardinal Health Inc., a maker of medical supplies, said it has set aside $25 million to cover the costs of a potential settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Premier Financial Bancorp Inc. announced a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning concealed loan losses at a bank subsidiary.

Morgan Stanley may face a fine of more than $10 million for failing to archive a number of e-mails needed in connection with Securities and Exchange Commission investigations. Published reports said that a final decision on any penalty is likely still months away.

The International Federation of Accountants has issued new guidance on environmental management accounting.

Looking to avoid the publicity of a trial, the country's largest trash hauler will pay $26.8 million to cover most of the costs of a settlement between former executives and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Specifics of a deal are being hammered out between federal prosecutors and KPMG LLP, and the name of former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Richard Breeden is being floated to serve as in independent monitor of the firm's future activities.

The U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced proposed regulations that provide further guidance to Section 482, which determines taxable income in connection with cost-sharing arrangements affecting intellectual property.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has officially called for a suspension of the International Accounting Standards Board's financial reporting standards convergence program, saying the board's proposal would create high costs and significant uncertainties for unlisted companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against two former officers of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. for allegedly orchestrating a fraudulent earnings management scheme through channel stuffing.

Reports say KPMG LLP is close to putting behind it a federal investigation into its sale of possibly illegal tax shelters.

Two former top Kmart executives face Securities and Exchange Commission charges for misleading investors about Kmart's financial condition in the months preceding the retailer claiming bankruptcy in January 2002.

British consulting group Lane Clark & Peacock said that the pension deficits for Britain's top 100 companies by market value totaled more than $66 billion as of July, and could affect the way businesses using the new International Financial Reporting Standards are run.

The Canadian Public Accountability Board released a second report on its inspections of accounting firms, finding that accounting firms need to enhance existing auditing practices.

Reinsurer MBIA Inc. recently said that it had received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission that it may face civil charges over past reinsurance transactions.

The American Institute of CPAs has finalized several documents that should improve the auditing of private companies and the development of nonaudit reports and compilations.

The preparers of financial statements have long been grumbling about accounting standards, which they say are needlessly complex and painfully burdensome. The users of financial statements, on the other hand, have generally advocated detail and transparency.

A federal judge will allow the Securities and Exchange Commission to refile their lawsuit against HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy.

The International Accounting Standards Board has issued a new international financial reporting standard titled, "Financial Instruments: Disclosures," as well as an amendment to its "Presentation of Financial Statements" discussing capital disclosures.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board adopted new ethics and independence rules for auditors that place clear limits on the ability of accounting firms to offer tax services to their audit clients.