Audit

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.

Accounting Today began its annual three-day Growth & Profitability Summit in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday with a pair of insightful keynote speeches by Krista McMasters, CEO of McMasters Consulting and former CEO of top-ranked CPA firm Clifton Gunderson, and Jay Nisberg, president of the consulting firm Jay Nisberg & Associates, with both speakers highlighting the changing dynamics of managing an accounting firm and CPA practice.

New Web sites, CPE Credits and more …

The International Federation of Accountants has issued a policy paper that stresses the importance of reporting on broad-based information beyond what is traditionally included in financial reporting.

The Canadian Securities Administrators, an umbrella organization of Canada’s provincial and territorial securities regulators, has proposed changes to its auditor oversight rules with the goal of giving securities regulators more insight into situations where Canada’s audit firm regulator has imposed sanctions on an audit firm.

BDO USA once again took the top spot among major firms in our quarterly ranking of new Securities and Exchange Commission audit clients, this time with a whopping 36 net new clients -- the result, largely, of a number of major mergers the firm completed over the summer.

The career outlook for women in finance and accounting has improved in the last 10 years, according to a new survey of CFOs by the staffing company Robert Half.

The American Institute of CPAs’ Financial Reporting Executive Committee has submitted a comment letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board suggesting changes in the latest proposals for lease accounting standards.

Deloitte has launched US GAAP Plus, a new Web site that provides news, publications and project updates about U.S. and international accounting standard setting.

The Institute of Management Accountants has opened a new Competency Crisis microsite and community designed to give a variety of accounting and finance stakeholders, including professionals, students, employers and academics, a forum to discuss the issue of the talent gap in the accounting profession and come up with potential solutions.

Internal auditors, external auditors, board members and financial executives disagree over who has responsibility for deterring and detecting financial statement fraud, according to a new report.