Audit

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued guidance on the recent requirement for registration of auditors of privately held broker-dealers.

Big Four Firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has awarded $700,000 in grants to 26 colleges and universities to accelerate their respective curricula on International Financial Reporting Standards.

Big Four firm Ernst & Young named former Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual executive Michael Solender as its Americas vice chair and general counsel, effective February 24.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed former Public Company Accounting Oversight Board member Kayla Gillan as senior advisor to new Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Schapiro, effective immediately.

Proving generational clashes aren’t only taking place in the states, we found an article in an Australian small business publication quoting a 24-year-old KPMG employee in Melbourne worried about her future for the first time after her two close friends lost their jobs.

Parente Randolph has combined practices with Lazar Levine & Felix in a $16 million merger, expanding Parente’s footprint in the Northeast.

Crowe Horwath is expanding to New York City by combining practices with Hays Co. LLP.

Consulting conglomerate BearingPoint Inc., which began as the consulting arm of Big Four firm KPMG but has been best by a series of financial problems and large earnings losses over the past several years, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sealed an agreement with lenders to slash its debt.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has added a pair of agenda projects aimed at improving the application guidance used to determine fair values and disclosure of fair value estimates.

Managers increasingly expect the supply chain to help them cut costs and improve performance, but the process needs to be balanced, according to a new report by Ernst & Young.

Canadian consumers are in structurally better financial shape than U.S. consumers. So then, why do Canadians plan more dramatic spending cuts and shifts in behavior this year in response to the recession than do U.S. consumers? "Compared with U.S. consumers, Canadian consumers are entering the downturn with more secure household finances, healthier real-estate fundamentals, and more conservative levels of credit and debt,” says Cliff Grevler, a partner at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which has recently completed research and a new survey. “Despite this structural superiority, Canadians are battening down the hatches and bracing for a tough year ahead. Canadian consumers are planning cutbacks in 2009 to a greater degree than their U.S. counterparts. We anticipate that the result will be a 'cycle of thrift' in Canada, and it will have self-fulfilling effects." The BCG research--the first to compare Canadian, U.S., and European consumers in the current downturn--shows that Canadian consumers have entered the recession in a better structural position than U.S. consumers. It is reported that they have higher savings rates: three percent last year compared with about 1.5 percent among U.S. consumers. Moreover, Canadians have lower debt-to-income ratios and bigger equity stakes in their homes. Of course, the residential real-estate market is healthier in Canada than in the United States. In fact, Canada has a lower mortgage-delinquency rate, sub-prime loans aren't nearly as common, and there is less securitization of mortgages, thereby leading to more rigorous lending standards. Canadians are also more conservative with credit cards, notes the survey. Average credit-card debt per household in Canada is $3,100 compared with $8,200 in the United States. More than 70 percent of Canadian households pay off credit card debt each month, but less than half of U.S. households do. Canadians average two credit cards per household, while U.S. consumers average six. And the credit card delinquency rate in Canada is half of what it is in the United States. Despite their superior financial position, Canadians express great economic concern and voice intentions to shift their behavior more dramatically than U.S. consumers say they will, according to BCG. A greater numbers of Canadians--62 percent--plan to reduce spending over the next year, compared with 58 percent of U.S. consumers and 56 percent of European consumers in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, and France. Although the Canadians who plan to cut spending anticipate doing so by 15 percent, the comparable U.S. and European consumers plan to do so by only 13 percent and 12 percent, respectively. "Canadians are more intent on stretching their dollars in 2009 than are their U.S. counterparts," says Grevler. Nearly three-quarters--72 percent--of Canadians said that they will pay more attention to and buy more products that are on promotion. Only 65 percent of U.S. consumers expressed that intention. Incidentally, some 69 percent of Canadians said that they will defer major expenses that can wait, while only 63 percent of U.S. consumers expressed that intention. Furthermore, 58 percent of Canadians said that they will significantly cut spending on nonessential items, compared with only 50 percent of U.S. consumers. The categories that both Canadian and U.S. residents are most likely to focus on for cuts are restaurants and fast food (49 percent), vacation travel (40 percent), consumer electronics (28 percent), home furnishings and décor (27 percent), and cars (20 percent). The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world's leading advisor on business strategy. For more information, please visit www.bcg.com

The Financial Accounting Foundation has chosen John J. Brennan, chairman of mutual fund giant Vanguard Group, as its new chairman and a member of its board of trustees.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun requiring 500 of the largest companies to start filing their financial statements in an interactive data format.

The Center for Audit Quality has published a free online reference source for public company auditors with lessons on performing audits of internal control over financial reporting.

Retirement doesn’t have to be just about bingo and shuffleboard.

Morningstar has issued a statement that it is considering establishing its own credit-ratings systems in competition with rating agencies such as Moody’s and Fitch, although it has no plans in place.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro announced plans to make it easier for SEC staff to bring enforcement actions and indicated that the Financial Accounting Standards Board would further modify fair value accounting standards.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed Robert Malhotra as a senior advisor in the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that Bernard Madoff has consented to a proposed partial judgment imposing a permanent injunction on him.

As the economic crisis calls into question the financial statements of banks and companies, the head of Ernst & Young advocated greater regulation of all types of auditing firms.