Audit

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.

Grant Thornton’s national managing partner of professional standards, John Archambault, has been appointed to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s Standing Advisory Group.

IMGCAP(1)]Opaque financial instruments that banks and insurance companies have created and misrepresented, and that were blamed for the current recession, seem to call for greater transparency. But what exactly is transparency? How is it done? Does it work?

A measure approved last week by the House Financial Services Committee to change Sarbanes-Oxley audit rules would lead to a higher incidence of fraud and an increase in the amount of fraud losses, said the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

A new audit practice alert from the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board aims to help auditors plan more effective use of external confirmations.

The American Institute of CPAs and Financial Executives International have written to Congress to express their objections to proposed legislation that would displace the SEC from its role of overseeing the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

The International Accounting Standards Board has proposed new standards for measuring the impairment of financial instruments and assets using amortized cost, taking a different tack than the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board.

A malpractice lawsuit against Deloitte that was filed by Holtsville, N.Y.-based Symbol Technologies can proceed, an appeals court in New York has ruled.

The House Financial Services Committee voted to exempt small and midsized public companies from Sarbanes-Oxley audit requirements.

The Center for Audit Quality and other influential organizations are asking leaders of the House Financial Services Committee to safeguard the role of the SEC in overseeing the Financial Accounting Standards Board.