Audit

The Internal Revenue Service expanded nationwide on Wednesday the rollout of its streamlined Fast Track Settlement program, which aims to help small businesses under audit settle their differences with the IRS over their tax debts more quickly.

The American Institute of CPAs’ Financial Reporting Executive Committee and the AICPA’s Impairment Task Force plan to release the final version of a new AICPA Accounting and Valuation Guide, "Testing Goodwill for Impairment," on Friday.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has established a Center for Economic Analysis to study the role and relevance of the audit in capital formation and investor protection.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board voted Wednesday to move forward with preparing a final standard on revenue recognition that is expected to be issued during the first quarter of 2014.

Cindy Fornelli, executive director of the Center for Audit Quality, discusses the PCAOB's proposed changes in audit and attest standards for broker-dealer auditors, and the U.K.'s Competition Commission proposals for mandatory retendering of audit firms, in an interview with Accounting Today editor-in-chief Daniel Hood.

The changes of previous decades have left accountants acting more like their clients’ “most trusted servants” than their most trusted advisors, according to IT expert and thought leader Doug Sleeter.

New websites, recognitions and more...

Mergers mean major SEC audit client gains for national firm

A roundup of assurance-related news

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are revealing further details about their long-stalled plans for creating a Disclosure Framework to help accountants decide on which notes to include with financial statements.

Russell Golden, the recently appointed chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, discussed the road ahead for FASB after the board marked its 40th anniversary earlier this year as it continues its efforts to reach a consensus with the International Accounting Standards Board on their remaining convergence projects.

After dropping in September, the accounting profession’s expectations for economic growth rebounded this month, according to the October edition of Accounting Today’s monthly Accountants Confidence Index.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board plans to turn its attention to auditing standards involving revenue recognition, according to one of the PCAOB members.

New BKR memberships, new websites, and more...

A trio of new research studies support the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s proposal to require the identification of the lead auditor on public company financial reports.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued an alert cautioning auditors about the significant number of audit deficiencies that the PCAOB staff has seen in the past three years related to audits of internal control over financial reporting.

The American Institute of CPAs’ Accounting and Review Services Committee has issued an exposure draft proposing three new and revised standards that would make significant changes in how accountants perform compilation engagements.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has voted unanimously to propose rules under the JOBS Act allowing companies to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding.

Deloitte & Touche LLP has agreed to pay $2 million to settle charges with the Public Conpany Accounting Oversight Board for violating the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and PCAOB rules by allowing a former partner to perform or continue to perform activities as an “associated person” that were prohibited while he was subject to a PCAOB suspension order.

The American Institute of CPAs has faced a hectic year dealing with problems like the last-minute fiscal cliff deal that delayed tax season, along with the after-effects of Superstorm Sandy and the impact of changes at the Internal Revenue Service that made life difficult for many tax practitioners.