Audit

A federal judge is allowing a shareholder lawsuit to proceed against a group of auditing firms that signed off on audits of China Expert Technology, a company they have accused of committing accounting fraud.

IMGCAP(1)]On May 25, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its final rules implementing the new whistleblower program of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The London-based International Valuation Standards Council has published a set of new International Valuation Standards covering a wide range of assets.

There used to be this great TV spot for a large commercial bank that spoofed its competitors' overlong waiting periods before depositors could get approved for a loan.

Six community banks have received a total of $123 million as part of the first wave of capital provided by the Small Business Lending Fund, according to the Treasury Department.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board issued two new standards Wednesday that aim to improve government financial reporting in two timely areas: providing taxpayers and others with information about how past transactions will continue to affect a government’s financial statements in the future, and clarifying the circumstances in which hedge accounting continues to be applied when a swap counterparty, or related credit support provider, is replaced.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued for public comment a set of proposed audit and attestation standards for audit engagements of broker-dealers.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has begun developing a “differential framework” that would help provide a short-term solution for creating distinct standards or exceptions for private companies.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board issued a “preliminary views” document Monday on the recognition and measurement of elements of financial statements.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is proposing some far-reaching changes in the field of pension accounting that should affect public employees and state and local governments across the country.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has issued two exposure drafts proposing improvements to financial reporting of pensions by state and local governments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission held a roundtable discussion Thursday on International Financial Reporting Standards and how they ultimately might be incorporated into the U.S. financial reporting system.

Officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are heading to China later this month to meet with officials there to try to resolve the growing problems with audits of U.S.-listed Chinese companies.

Hans Hoogervorst, who took over as chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board this month, said he anticipates the U.S. will ultimately adopt International Financial Reporting Standards.

SEC RELEASES WORK PLAN ON IFRS TRANSITION

The financial crisis may be in the rear-view mirror, but as companies start to look ahead to how they can achieve growth and profits, they will be asking more questions concerning risk.

This column was almost ready to submit when the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board announced that they changed some tentative decisions concerning lease accounting. Before the announcement, we identified six unproductive positions. That list has now been reduced to four-and-a-half, leaving most of our criticisms unchanged, but at least now we have a glimmer of hope that they will produce a better standard.

Sixty-one of the top 100 recipients of federal small business contracts for fiscal year 2010 were large companies, according to a new report.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has launched a new Web portal for nonpublic entities as the board tries to retain its role as the standard-setter for private company accounting.

The American Institute of CPAs has issued new attest guidance that enables CPAs to report on the controls at a service organization, particularly ones that provide outsourced services to other companies via technologies like cloud computing.