Audit

Richard Vitale, co-founder of accounting firm Vitale Caturano, resigned after allegations emerged that he assisted ticket brokers with getting favorable legislation passed in Massachusetts without first registering as a lobbyist.

Deloitte has formed an International Financial Reporting Standards University Consortium to help bring IFRS into more college classrooms.

The Internal Revenue Service has published the 2009 inflation-adjusted deduction limits for health savings accounts.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted at an open meeting to propose that companies begin filing financial statements in an interactive tagged format as early as next year.

Nearly 75 percent of CFOs and senior comptrollers have no experience using International Financial Reporting Standards, while 55 percent are unfamiliar with the Extensible Business Reporting Language, according to a new survey by Grant Thornton.

With convergence to a single set of global accounting rules an inevitability as opposed to a possibility, it’s up to standards setters and regulators to put forth guidelines that are not only the best that can be written, but also ones that shed unnecessary complexity.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to announced a proposed rule Wednesday mandating the filing of SEC reports in Extensible Business Reporting Language format.

Accounting firm Moss Adams has named Rebecca Pomering CEO of its wealth management division.

The Treasury Department's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession on May 5 issued a draft of its final report. It is broken down into a number of sections, each with detailed recommendations with regard to auditing and the auditing profession.

If you haven’t heard by now, there’s a big conference coming up in July. It’s being billed as “How CPAs Can Make Money in Financial Planning” and it’s being held on July 20-22 at the Chicago Fairmont. Why this conference? Because the Baby Boomers, as we all know, are hitting retirement age with the Barely Boomers right behind, and they are certainly looking for financial planners to advise them. In the interests of full disclosure, the conference is being offered by the premier publications in this field: CPA Wealth Provider, Accounting Today, and Practical Accountant. The conference will detail exactly what it takes to be really successful in such a practice area, which includes estate, tax, retirement, insurance, and succession planning and, of course, wealth management. This breakthrough conference is also targeted at those firms not yet in financial planning as well as those who have not been successful. In fact, the conference will allow you to determine how deeply your firm should be in this growth area and in what capacity. You will also learn how to select the right strategic partner and how to get financial planning up-to-speed quickly. Moreover, you will hear success stories from financial planners and learn the challenges of those CPAs who entered the business without the proper training, analysis, and understanding and therefore, failed or had a number of false starts. Incidentally, the conference will offer 16-18 CPE credits. Most importantly, a number of the preeminent people in the field will be conducting sessions at this conference including the keynote speaker, Stuart Kessler, considered by many as the “Godfather” of financial planning and including, as of this date, Garrett D'Alessandro, Sidney Blum, Mitchell Freedman, Peter Jaworski, Rebecca Pomering, Larry Swedroe, Enrique Vasquez, Troy Waugh, and Clare Wherley. For more information, contact Julie.Dienes@sourcemedia.com.

Sage Software's U.K.-based parent company, the Sage Group, reported revenue of $1.29 billion for the half-year ended March 31, 2008, a 9 percent increase over the same period last year.

Standard & Poor's plans to host a forum on the merits of fair value accounting later this month.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board found problems with four audits conducted by Ernst & Young in its latest inspection report.

A merger between two corporate tax prep firms in Australia aims to give new competition to the Big Four.

The Treasury Department's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession has released a draft report outlining recommendations for improving the profession.

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Paul Atkins said he plans to leave the SEC at the end of his term, the latest in a string of departures for the commission.

iPro One has reached an agreement to purchase an ownership interest in HbK Sorce Financial, an investment advisory and wealth management firm with more than $1 billion in assets under management.

Amper Politziner & Mattia has merged with Goldenberg Rosenthal to create one of the largest regional firms in the Northeast.

Genworth Financial Investment Services has launched a new section of its Web site dedicated to practice management.

Three accounting firms based in Jackson, Miss., are combining with CPA firm BKD LLP.