Accounting standards

As of this writing, bankruptcy reform legislation had passed the Senate and was expected to move quickly through the House and be signed by President Bush. The Bankruptcy Abuse and Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 may already be law as you read this column.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was supposed to help investors, not sink companies.

Washington - The Securities and Exchange Commission in early April named agency veteran Meyer Eisenberg to the post of acting director of the commission's Division of Investment Management.

Noting that the impact of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on companies, auditors and investors has been huge, one Big Four chief executive says that the changes "all are positive."

A committee established by the Securities and Exchange Commission to evaluate how the securities regulatory system affects smaller public companies is soliciting public comment on its proposed agenda.

The Financial Planning Association filed a petition in a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals challenging a Securities and Exchange Commission rule exempting certain broker/dealers from the requirements of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

The Securities and Exchange Commission strongly objected to a statement by Big Four firm Deloitte & Touche regarding settlements the audit firm entered into with the commission to resolve charges related to two of Deloitte's former audit clients.

Deloitte & Touche LLP agreed to pay more than $50 million to settle charges brought against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to two of its former audit clients.

The Government Accountability Office has issued extensive new guidance for auditors and audit organizations in implementing revised continuing professional education requirements for those conducting so-called "Yellow Book" audits.

The chief financial officer of a popular steakhouse chain has called it quits, citing the negative regulatory environment, including what he referred to as "lunacy over lease accounting."

BearingPoint, the consultancy formerly tied to accounting firm KPMG, disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an informal probe into the company's accounting practices.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Chief Accountant has selected two professional accounting fellows for two-year terms beginning in June 2005.

Despite dire predictions by critics of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that the accounting reform law would freeze smaller CPA firms out of the audit business, just the opposite appears to be happening, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chairman William J. McDonough told Congress.

Officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Union Commission have reached an agreement on a "roadmap" toward equivalence between international and U.S. accounting rules.

The Government Accountability Office's quality assurance system has received a clean audit opinion from an international peer review team.

The Coca-Cola Co. announced a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to allegations that the company used a channel-stuffing practice known as "gallon pushing" to meet earnings expectations.

The Professional Ethics Executive Committee of the American Institute of CPAs has proposed in an exposure draft a new ethics interpretation of rules to determine whether financial interests held by a company's external auditor impair independence.

Big Four firm KPMG LLP has agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle charges brought against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its audits of Xerox Corp. from 1997 through 2000.

President Bush has signed into law H.R. 1134, exempting qualified disaster mitigation payments from tax.

In a resounding salvo aimed at pending proposals on business combinations and consolidated financial statements from the Financial Accounting Standards Board, two major financial associations - Financial Executives International and the Institute of Management Accountants - have roundly criticized not only the board's approach to those proposals, but also a broad spectrum of related issues.