Audit

A new online poll by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services found that 27.4 percent of executives reported cuts in their companies’ compliance and internal audit departments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed fraud charges against a health care financial services company after it allegedly provided investors with forged financial statements and audit reports to lure them into a $75 million investment scheme.

Officials from the Security and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board cautioned a group of auditors against placing too much reliance on specialists hired for their expertise in areas such as fair value measurement.

Looking forward to 2010, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is bracing for a surge in litigation from the targets of its enforcement staff, a series of new regulatory responsibilities triggered by the Madoff Ponzi scheme, and corner-cutting by accounting firms squeezed by the ongoing economic crisis.

The dispute between Overstock.com and Grant Thornton heated up after the Internet retailer’s chief accused the firm of “inconsistencies and inaccurate statements.”

For the first time, the Securities and Exchange Commission has distributed more than $2 billion in a single calendar year to injured investors as a result of SEC enforcement actions and proceedings.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board has published a paper questioning how financial statements can provide more information about the long-term sustainability of current government programs.

CCH and Grant Thornton have teamed up to produce IFRS Tax Manager, an online guide to International Financial Reporting Standards, aimed at helping tax, audit and accounting professionals comply with tax accounting and reporting standards under IFRS.

CaseWare IDEA and Houston-based Audimation Services have launched SymSure for IDEA continuous auditing and monitoring risk management software.

XBRL US Labs has issued a call for research partners to expand the research and development projects it already has underway and named its first three research fellows.

Many may feel that enterprise risk management is a passing fad, but evidence shows otherwise.

Internet retailer Overstock.com has dismissed Grant Thornton as its auditor and opted to file an unaudited version of its third-quarter financials.

The Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration convened a Small Business Financing Forum in which they discussed ways to expand credit to small business.

Wayne Carnall, the chief accountant in the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance, had some good advice to dispense to corporate accountants on keeping out of hot water with his department.

Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Bob Herz said the $64,000 question is, “Where are we going with IFRS?” as he described plans for FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board to work more closely on uniting U.S. GAAP with International Financial Reporting Standards.

Leaders of the American Institute of CPAs and the Center for Audit Quality registered strong objections to proposed legislation that would put banking regulators in control of U.S. accounting standards.

CROWE UNVEILS APP FOR ARRA

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has beefed up the disclosure requirements for some types of fair value measurements.

The former CFO of the American Cancer Society has formed her own CPA firm.

The International Accounting Standards Board has published a new standard on classifying and measuring financial assets to determine whether an asset should be measured at amortized cost or fair value.