Audit

The Group of North American Insurance Enterprises, an association representing the CFOs of major life insurance companies in Bermuda, Canada, and the United States, has joined with four other insurance industry trade associations based in North and South America, to urge the International Accounting Standards Board to reconsider its decision to apply a single measurement model to both life and non-life insurance contracts.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board said they intend to prioritize the major convergence projects ahead of them as they try to reach the goal of melding U.S. and international accounting standards, with some projects pushed back further next year.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has told the Internal Revenue Service it should withdraw its proposed rule that would require companies with more than $10 million in total assets to disclose uncertain tax positions on a new schedule.

Goodwill impairments at U.S.-based companies fell dramatically last year, according to a new study.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released updated staff guidance to help accounting firms outside the U.S. to register with the board even if their countries do not allow the PCAOB to inspect them or answer some of the questions on a PCAOB application form.

The Federal Trade Commission has further delayed enforcement of the so-called “Red Flags” Rule for identity theft prevention until Dec. 31, while Congress considers legislation that would affect the scope of entities covered by the rule.

The California Society of CPAs has honored seven CPAs with its Women to Watch Awards at its recent Women's Leadership Forum here.

The International Accounting Standards Board has proposed changes in the standards for presenting items under other comprehensive income.

President Barack hosted a group of award-winning small business owners from around the country in the White House Rose Garden and used the occasion to prod Congress to pass the administration’s Small Business Jobs Package.

Barry Melancon has been president and CEO of the American Institute of CPAs since 1995. Under his leadership, the AICPA has spearheaded a number of initiatives to benefit the profession and the general public, including private company reporting standards and 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy. He is a member of the AICPA’s delegation to the International Federation of Accountants, chairman of XBRL-US, vice chairman of the Center for Audit Quality, and a founding board member of the Global Accounting Alliance. He serves on the board of the U. S. Chamber Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said he anticipates an exemption for small and midsized public companies from Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404(b) requirements for independent audits of their internal controls to remain in the final version of the financial regulatory reform bill.

Thirty-seven percent of U.S. CFOs and senior controllers believe that a balance sheet should display both the fair value (exit value) and amortized cost of assets, according to a new survey by Grant Thornton, consistent with a forthcoming proposal from the Financial Accounting Standards Board regarding the presentation of financial instruments.

In an effort to draw a wider population of qualified people into the accounting profession, members of the American Institute of CPAs’ governing council unanimously approved revisions to expand its membership categories.

Members of the American Institute of CPAs heard an update from the chairman of the Blue Ribbon Panel, the task force charged with addressing how GAAP accounting standards can best meet the needs of users of private company financial statements, at the AICPA’s Spring Council meeting.

IMGCAP(1)]Let’s be honest. Between the thousands of quality audits done every day by diligent CPAs and the headline-grabbing debacles like Madoff and Enron, which do you think sticks out more in the public’s mind? We all know the answer to this.

A professor of accounting at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College is the 2010 recipient of the Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award from the AICPA.

Since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Auditing Standard No. 5 were issued, momentum continues to shift towards continuous monitoring or automation solutions.

New York - A class-action lawsuit by former shareholders of Lehman Brothers has been amended to add the defunct investment bank's auditor, Big Four firm Ernst & Young, as a defendant.

More than a decade ago, my wife and I lugged ourthen-small offspring for a number of weekends one summer on car-shoppingexcursions.

The Center for Audit Quality and the Council of Institutional Investors are protesting two proposed amendments to the financial regulatory reform bill that would exempt smaller public companies from compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404(b) audits of their internal controls.