Audit

The Private Company Council voted Tuesday to move forward with proposed alternatives within U.S. GAAP to improve financial reporting for private companies.

The U.S.-based Center for Audit Quality has teamed up with two organizations in Europe and Australia on a new report that highlights the similar issues facing audit committees around the world.

The City of Harrisburg, Pa., has settled securities fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the first-ever case in which the SEC has charged a municipality for misleading statements made outside of its securities disclosure documents.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has reproposed for public comment its related-parties auditing standard along with related amendments to other standards to address areas that have been contributing factors in financial reporting frauds.

The owner of a jewelry store who received confidential information from a former KPMG partner about audit clients has pleaded guilty to insider trading charges.

CFOs who are hiring accounting and finance staff are looking beyond accounting skills, according to a new survey.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board member Jay Hanson spoke about some of the challenges faced by auditors and how the PCAOB is trying to address them.

Accounting conference season, charities and more…

The Securities and Exchange Commission is encouraging the Financial Accounting Standards Board to give accountants a long transition period to adjust to the upcoming revenue recognition standards.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has granted 45 more days to comment on the Nasdaq proposed internal audit function rule.

Accounting Today is in the midst of collecting submissions for its 2013 ranking of the Top Firms by AUM.

Arrogance and ignorance remain major drives of unethical behavior in accounting and financial reporting

Compliance with anti-bribery and anti-corruption rules is becoming critical

Developments in accounting and auditing from the previous month

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board member Lewis Ferguson has been elected chair of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a proposal to defer indefinitely the effective date for certain disclosures about investments held by a nonpublic employee benefit plan in the plan sponsor’s own equity securities.

The announcement of civil and criminal insider trading charges earlier this month against Scott London, a former senior audit partner at KPMG, grabbed business headlines and took the public accounting profession by surprise.

The Public Accounts Committee in the British Parliament has issued a critical report blaming large accounting firms, particularly the Big Four, for contributing to tax avoidance.

The Financial Foundation and the Financial Accounting Standards Board that it oversees are marking their 40th anniversary by introducing redesigned logos, branding and Web sites.

Robert Herz, the former chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, has written a new book on his experiences leading FASB, with reflections on his experiences leading the board through the financial crisis and in its efforts to converge U.S. GAAP with International Financial Reporting Standards.