Audit

Financial Accounting Standards Board chairman Leslie Seidman and International Accounting Standards Board chairman Hans Hoogervorst appeared side by side at an American Institute of CPAs conference in early December to discuss what went awry in U.S. support for International Financial Reporting Standards.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released a report in early December in which it identified widespread problems at eight major firms with their audits of internal control over financial reporting.

The Private Company Council held its inaugural meeting in early December to discuss how accounting standards should be adjusted for privately held companies.

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Accounting Today is in the midst of compiling its annual lists of the Top 100 Firms and Regional Leaders, and is looking for more top-notch accounting firms to consider.

The Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, is coming out in support of a proposal to create a new Accounting Standards Advisory Forum of international standard setters, but is balking at a requirement that participants need to make a commitment to International Financial Reporting Standards.

Fiscal Cliff Estimator, community service, new studies, Web sites and more

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released its latest inspection reports on Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young and Grant Thornton, and identified deficiencies with several of the audits it inspected.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released the 2013 U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy.

Grant Thornton reported global revenue growth of 10.4 percent in U.S. dollars, to a record $4.2 billion, for the year ended Sept. 20, 2012. Growth in local currency terms was even higher, at 13.2 percent.

The American Institute of CPAs has developed an online Audit Risk Assessment Tool to help focus in on the potential risk of material misstatements in a financial statement audit due to fraud or error.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Auditing Standard No. 16, Communications with Audit Committees, as well as amendments to other standards from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

A dose of this week’s office moves, tools, industry reports and charity updates.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released a proposal for comment to improve reporting on expected credit losses on loans and other financial assets held as investments by banks, financial institutions and other public and private organizations.

Interactive Data Corp., a provider of evaluated pricing, valuation and reference data services, has released a new set of enhancements to its fixed income transparency tool Vantage, which are designed to effectively meet requirements of both the buy-side and sell-side in the evaluated pricing process.

Losses due to fraud are estimated to increase 20 percent during the U.S. holiday season, according to a new survey by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

The International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators has released a global survey of audit inspection findings, identifying some of the most common problems that regulators have identified at auditing firms around the world during their inspections.

The New Mexico Finance Authority has completed its probe of fake audits and said it was reforming its accounting practices as a result.

New going concern warnings appear to be reaching a 12-year low among companies, according to new research from Audit Analytics, but the number of companies improving well enough to shed their going concern status is also the lowest observed in the past 12 years.

The International Accounting Standards Board has settled on its future agenda and priorities following a public consultation.