Audit

The American Institute of CPAs and two Brazilian accounting organizations have signed a two-year agreement paving the way for the CPA Exam to be offered in South America next year.

Proposed changes in lease accounting standards could have a broad negative impact on the U.S. economy, triggering a $10 billion reduction in gross domestic product and 60,000 fewer jobs by 2016, according to a new study from the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has proposed that state and local governments should include five-year projections of their cash inflows and outflows, and financial obligations, to supplement their financial statements.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board appear to be growing tired of trying to resolve their many disagreements after 10 years of ups and downs in their relationship, and the main question now seems to be whether it will be an amicable split.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has published a staff alert cautioning auditors to beware of the risks of material misstatements in the financial statements they audit in today’s volatile economic environment.

Financial Accounting Standards Board chair Leslie Seidman advocated a cautious transition to International Financial Reporting Standards during a speech Tuesday in which she said the board should retain its control over U.S. GAAP.

The Internal Revenue Service has been doing a better job of auditing small corporations in recent years, according to a new government report, but potential quality concerns remain.

IMGCAP(1)]Many of us on the Blue Ribbon Panel on Standard Setting for Private Companies believed we were on the verge of an historic change that would have relieved millions of private companies of accounting standards geared more to the needs of public companies and their financial statement users.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will delay its eagerly anticipated decision for a few more months on whether or not to incorporate International Financial Reporting Standards into the U.S. financial reporting system.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has struck a deal with Dutch regulators to carry out joint inspections of auditing firms.

IMGCAP(1)]It's difficult to regulate good management practices, yet those in power - Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and various self-governing standards bodies - are bound to continue to attempt to make good management practices the rule, rather than the exception.

ACL Services Ltd., a provider of business assurance technology for audit and compliance professionals, on Wednesday introduced ACL Acerno, an add-in for Microsoft Excel specially designed for auditors working with data analyzed in ACL Desktop or AuditExchange.

The European Commission has proposed a draft law that could split up the largest auditing firms and force them to use a separate entity and name for their advisory and non-audit practices.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has added a new project to its agenda aimed at reducing or eliminating the need for private companies and not-for-profit organizations to provide as many fair value measurement disclosures as public companies.

PwC Reports Fraud, Cyber Crime on the Rise

PCAOB Expands Standing Advisory Group

Accounting firm Clifton Gunderson said Tuesday it is intensifying its efforts to persuade the Financial Accounting Foundation to set up an independent board to set accounting standards for privately held companies.

International Accounting Standards Board chairman Hans Hoogervorst said that regardless of which way the Securities and Exchange Commission decides to go on supporting International Financial Reporting Standards, the main thing that is needed from the U.S. right now is “clarity.”

Trilogy Software Inc. has completed its first-round equity offering of $3.3 million, which will be used to launch the company’s DoxCycle intelligent tax source document management software and to explore opportunities in the professional tax and accounting industry.

The International Accounting Standards Board and the International Federation of Accountants agreed Tuesday to strengthen their cooperation on developing accounting standards for both the private and public sectors.