Audit

The accounting profession was slightly more optimistic this month than last, according to the June edition of Accounting Today’s monthly Accountants Confidence Index.

Less than nine months after uncovering the $215 million financial fraud at Peregrine Financial Group, Confirmation.com said that its electronic audit confirmation service was used to uncover another case of financial fraud.

As G8 leaders met in Northern Ireland for a summit focused on increasing financial transparency and tax information exchange, 150 business leaders and investors also gathered in Germany to advance a market-led solution to financial transparency.

The New York State Society of CPAs has expressed concern that an International Audit and Assurance Standards Board proposal that aims to make auditor reporting more transparent and improve users’ understanding of audited financial statements goes too far in expanding the scope of auditor responsibilities.

The current accounting rules for accounting for loan losses were in part responsible for the failures of community banks in the wake of the financial crisis, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

American Institute of CPAs president and CEO Barry Melancon has written to the leaders of the state CPA societies in response to an announcement from the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy urging private companies not to use the AICPA’s recently unveiled Financial Reporting Framework for Small and Medium-sized Entities.

For anyone evaluating the principles of the new service organization controls (SOC), particularly SOC 2, BrightLine CPAs & Associates principal and SOC reporting practice leader Greg Miller describes the five key principles and how to select the right one.

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The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy has advised private companies not to use the American Institute of CPAs’ recently released Financial Reporting Framework for Small and Medium-sized Entities.

The International Integrated Reporting Council has signed a memorandum of understanding with the World Intellectual Capital Initiative to ensure that "intellectual capital" is reflected as a crucial and essential source of an organization's value creation within integrated reporting.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board voted Wednesday to indefinitely defer certain disclosures about investments held by a nonpublic employee benefit plan in its plan sponsor’s own nonpublic equity securities.

The American Institute of CPAs and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales are urging the Financial Accounting Standards Board to reconsider two separate elements of FASB’s financial instruments convergence project with the International Accounting Standards Board.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has endorsed three proposals from the Private Company Council that would simplify the accounting for privately held companies.

The American Institute of CPAs has released its much-anticipated Financial Reporting Framework for Small- and Medium-Sized Entities, which is aimed at providing an alternative reporting option for small businesses that aren’t required to use GAAP.

Bob Moritz, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP since July 2009, sat down with Accounting Today on Friday to discuss some of the issues facing the accounting profession and how PwC has been adapting to changes in the economy and accounting, as well as his encounter with Michelle Obama when handing her the envelope for the Academy Awards.

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, which provides guidance on internal control, enterprise risk management, and fraud deterrence, has issued a new article to help public companies make the transition to COSO’s recently updated internal control framework.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued an accounting standards update setting forth a new approach for determining whether a public or private company is an investment company.

Office relocations, surveys, best company to work for and more…

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Carbon Disclosure Project to deepen their partnership for advancing corporate disclosure on material sustainability issues.

The IFRS Foundation said Wednesday it has completed the first phase of an effort to assess the state of progress on global adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards.