Audit

The Center for Audit Quality, the CFA Institute, the Council of Institutional Investors and the Consumer Federation of America have written to the Securities and Exchange Commission opposing demands for the SEC to override the Financial Accounting Standards Board's rules on fair value accounting.

The federal government plans to spend $250 billion to buy equity stakes in troubled banks to help them weather the credit crisis.

A New Jersey jury has awarded a company nearly $32 million after it sued KPMG for negligence; with interest, the verdict amounts to over $41 million.

KPMG International has named a deputy chairman.

The American Bankers Association has written to the Securities and Exchange Commission demanding that it override the Financial Accounting Standards Board's guidance on fair value accounting.

KPMG plans to contribute $1.5 million over the next five years to a village in Tanzania as part of a poverty relief project.

The Trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation gave the International Accounting Standards Board the go-ahead to suspend due process rules in order to accelerate their response to the credit crisis.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued two separate but related exposure drafts proposing standards on going concerns and subsequent events.

For taxpayers that converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2007, October 15 is the last chance they have for redemption, according to Mike Martin of Mike Martin and Associates.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has provided new flexibility to allow banks and other financial institutions to re-price their assets during the credit crisis by amending its standard on fair value measurements.

An 83 percent majority of CFOs favor separating the roles of CEO and chairman, according to a survey by Grant Thornton.

Closing date is fast-approaching. CPA Wealth Provider is calling for nominations for its Sixth Annual Financial Planning Awards in any of the following categories: CPA/Financial Planning Firms, Broker/Dealers, and Financial Planning Software Vendors. Winners are those firms or companies that have taken the lead through innovation, efficiency, initiative, or growth in the financial planning area. The winners will be profiled in the January 2009 issue of CPA Wealth Provider and copies of the issue will be included with the January issues of Accounting Today, Accounting Technology, and Practical Accountant, as well as being featured on WebCPA.com and at applicable conferences and conventions. No forms are needed to nominate. Simply send information about what company or firm is being nominated and in what category. Explain briefly how this firm or company has taken the lead through innovation, efficiency, initiative, or growth in the financial planning area. You can even nominate yourself. An example can be used. For instance, one company, a winner in the first year, showed that its seven financial planners all hold specific certifications or licenses and that this comprehensive planning approach has earned the firm an impressive customer loyalty with 99 percent of clients who sign remaining with the firm on a permanent basis. The judges this year are Bill Carlino, editor-in-chief of Accounting Today, Howard Wolosky, editor-in-chief of Practical Accountant, and myself. Nominations must be received by November 7, 2008. Send nominations by e-mail, regular mail, or fax to: Stuart Kahan, Executive Editor

After a two-year battle, the Internal Revenue Service has released thousands of pages of agency statistics to the Syracuse University-based Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it has started work on a study of mark-to-market accounting authorized by the financial rescue bill that was approved last week.

Participants in a Securities and Exchange Commission roundtable discussed how the credit crisis would affect the SEC's plans for an improved financial disclosure system.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has agreed to pay $97.5 million as a partial settlement of a securities class-action lawsuit over the firm's audits of AIG, the insurance giant recently taken over by the federal government.

American workers have lost as much as $2 trillion in their pensions and retirement savings in the past 15 months, witnesses told a hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee.

The Treasury Department's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession has released its final report outlining recommendations on how to improve the sustainability of the audit profession, including a dissenting statement from one of its members.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a notice aimed at calming fears that it would act against insurance-dedicated money market funds that take advantage of a new temporary guarantee program.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has released an audit practice alert to help auditors deal with the controversial issue of fair value accounting estimates.