Audit

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board is proposing new financial reporting requirements to help public sector entities account for financial instruments, such as derivatives, bonds, and loans, and produce global standards of transparency.

Lynn Turner, former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has a new job: senior advisor and managing director of the forensic accounting practice at LECG.

XBRL US has published the 2009 edition of the interactive data tags that the Securities and Exchange Commission will accept for coding financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

AuditSolutions has changed its name to Lavante and closed on $5 million in venture capital funding.

Even as the Securities and Exchange Commission weighs the comments that were due this week on its proposed roadmap to International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS could be on a convergence path of its own with Islamic accounting standards.

Goldman Sachs and Citigroup reported better than expected financial results last week, but critics are complaining that the two banks bended accounting rules to boost their earnings.

Bernard Madoff’s accountant, David Friehling, is facing an extra month of uncertainty over his legal status after prosecutors filed a continuance with the court.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has written to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission urging the SEC to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards.

Among the many changes born of the financial crisis that's sweeping the globe are changes in internal auditing departments.

At least one Chicago-area CPA firm has won braggingrights after it received the highest rating possible on an independent peerreview of its financial statement audit and review services.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has written an article for his Web site chastising the CPA profession for standing by while Wall Street firms "used the latest tricks to cook the books."

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The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board isconsidering making changes in the standards for audit confirmations after arecent wave of auditing scandals.

As the profession prepares for the transition to adoptingInternational Financial Reporting Standards, the Center for Audit Quality hasfired off a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission offering a seriesof recommendations to improve the regulator's proposed IFRS roadmap.

At least one critic of the proposed changes inmark-to-market and fair value accounting rules is changing his tune and seeingsome positive signs in the final version.

The Texas Society of CPAs warned the Financial AccountingStandards Board that FASB's recently approved changes in fair value accountingstandards could damage the credibility of CPAs in general.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has publishedthe "final" versions of its three controversial FASB Staff Positionsto improve guidance and disclosures on fair value measurements.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released a list of countries abroad where it intends to conduct inspections of auditing firms.

Two auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Indian member firm have been charged in the Satyam accounting scandal.

Canada’s Accounting Standards Board said that it has not yet made a decision on whether to change its fair value standards to match up with U.S. standards.