Audit

UHY Advisors has named Tony Frabotta and Rick Stein as co-CEOs, replacing Steve Samek, who resigned from the firm last week.

The judge presiding over the KPMG tax shelter case has agreed to sever the four tax evasion counts for one of the defendants from the rest of the charges relating to the tax shelter.

The Institute of Internal Auditors has published a pair of Global Technology Audit Guides discussing business continuity management and information technology audit plans.

The Securities and Exchange Commission held a roundtable discussion on the performance of International Financial Reporting Standards and U.S. generally accepted accounting principles during the subprime crisis.

MAXXAM JETTISONS DELOITTE

This fourth of four columns on mythbusting is aimed at an old chestnut that has been repeated so often that virtually no one ever casts a wary eye in its direction. Here is a quote from a standard intermediate textbook (italics in the original): "Cost has an important advantage over other valuations: It is reliable."

Many aspects of business organizations today are challenged to do more with less, and the internal audit activity is no exception. As executive management and boards are increasingly recognizing the criticality of managing risks throughout their organizations, they are expecting more of their internal auditors than ever before.

“Women, Money and Power” is a new study released by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America that says more than half of all women want to learn about retirement planning and try level-saving and investing, although many are not sure where to begin. Allianz examined two key questions: what women want to learn about finances and how they want to learn it. It found that while the Internet is the most consulted resource, it is the least trusted. Apparently, human contact remains the most meaningful and effective source of information. The study identified the financial planning topics women want to learn about most. The top five subjects include: · Planning for retirement/maintaining lifestyle in retirement · How to start saving or investing on very little income · Basics of buying smart (savvy shopping, buying vs. leasing, etc) · How to buy/select the right insurance products (life, long-term care) · Definition of basic financial terms (IRAs, annuities, mutual funds) According to Allianz, single women with children were overwhelmingly interested in planning for retirement, with 68 percent saying it was a topic of interest. In addition, 47 percent of that group was interested in how to buy or select the right insurance products, and 49 percent wanted to learn the definitions of basic financial terms. Single women were particularly interested in educating themselves. Forty-five percent of single women with children and 55 percent of single women without children expressed interest in learning about financial planning. Divorced women were also above the group average, at 42 percent. “This intense interest by women, especially single women with children, demonstrates that all women are thinking about finances for themselves and their families, and are ready to take control, with a little bit of help,” says Sherri DuMond, vice president of Marketing Solutions for Allianz. Difficulty in understanding financial information is a critical barrier for many women, the Allianz study finds. When asked about their financial planning concerns, women responded: · Information is overwhelming/too much/hard to sort through · Information is complicated or hard to understand · Materials are really boring and dry · Don’t understand terminology/materials seem foreign Despite their reservations, more than one in three respondents, some 35 percent, said they were very or quite a bit interested in learning about financial planning, retirement planning, and investment decisions. Tom Burns, senior vice president and chief distribution officer, says, “I’m excited about this opportunity to really take a look at what women need from a financial services company. This study represents a clear opportunity for Allianz and the financial services industry as a whole to break the cycle of women’s hesitance to be involved in financial planning.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting voted Thursday to approve the recommendations in its final report, which the SEC will present publicly on Friday.

Under pressure from banks and regulators, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has decided to reverse itself and postpone the effective date of an accounting rule that would have forced financial institutions to move assets and liabilities from special-purpose entities such as mortgage-backed securities onto their balance sheets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission signed a memorandum of understanding with the Labor Department to make permanent the sharing of information to help protect the retirement savings of American workers.

External audit fees are finally beginning to moderate and in some cases decline for big companies for the first time since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act went into effect in 2004.

Accounting firm Amper, Politziner & Mattia has reorganized its leadership team, appointing a new chairman, CEO and COO.

CPA firm Eide Bailly plans to merge with Murrell, Hall, McIntosh & Co., expanding its staff to over 1,000 and providing combined revenue of $123 million.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to hold a roundtable discussion on Aug. 4 to compare the performance of International Financial Reporting Standards and U.S. generally accepted accounting principles during the recent period of market turmoil caused by the subprime loan crisis.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has adopted rules and a related form to govern when a firm would be allowed to succeed to the registration status of a predecessor firm following a merger or other change in the registered firm's legal status.

KPMG has released a study that ranks cities with the most favorable tax structures for business.

BDO Seidman reported that its annual revenue increased 11.9 percent to $659 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008 from $589 million the previous fiscal year.

Accounting firm Burr Pilger Mayer has introduced an employee stock ownership plan that it is offering to all of its 325 employees.

Georgia's Court of Appeals upheld a $10 million jury verdict against Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of four family trusts. In 2007, a jury in Cobb County found the audit firm liable for negligent misrepresentation in a series of financial audits of a nursing home conglomerate. In 1995, Georgia businessmen and brothers Stiles A. Kellett Jr. and Samuel B. Kellett had merged their Marietta, Ga.-based nursing home, Convalescent Services, with the larger Mariner Health Group. Six years ago, the Kelletts, two of their limited liability partnerships and four Kellett family trusts sued PwC and three former senior executives of Mariner Health, charging that the defendants engaged in fraud that ultimately cost the Kelletts more than $126 million in stock losses. In the suit, the Kelletts sought more than $400 million and to prevent PwC from doing business in the state of Georgia. The litigation charged that Coopers & Lybrand, the precursor firm to PwC, had generated inaccurate financials on Mariner that overstated earnings and understated liabilities. The Kelletts claimed that the misstatements persuaded them that the merger would be a profitable one.