Audit

Microsoft has debuted a blog, Money Insider, focusing on the latest news about its Microsoft Money personal finance software and MSN Money site.

Mixing a fixed-income annuity into a retirement income account provides greater long-term wealth for investors than a portfolio of equity and bond investments alone, according to a study by MassMutual Financial Group.

The American Institute of CPAs has begun shipping its 2007 AICPA Audit and Accounting Guides, updated for the risk assessment standards issued by the Auditing Standards Board.

California wealth management firms Kochis Fitz and Quintile Wealth Management said they plan to merge, effective Jan. 1, 2008, with the combined firm to be known initially as Kochis Fitz/Quintile until a new name can be found.

Did you know that women provide the lion's share, up to 70 percent, of the $350 billion AARP estimate of the total value of uncompensated caregiving last year in the U.S.? Yep, according to the National Center on Women and Aging, a majority of those female caregivers are employed, but are often forced to reduce their hours or retire early due to their caregiving responsibilities, which can end up costing them each a staggering average of $659,130 in lost wages, savings, benefits, and pension over a lifetime. To help the estimated 40 million women who will retire over the next two decades to achieve increased financial viability, retirement security, and avoid the negative consequences so often related to care giving, LifeSecure Insurance Company and the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) have partnered on a consumer awareness and education initiative. LifeSecure's marketing efforts will include special communications targeting female consumers and creating awareness of the issues. In addition, consumers will be directed to the comprehensive library of useful financial planning, caregiving, and related information at WISER's online data center (see www.wiser.heinz.org/portal). "At LifeSecure, we are committed to helping women overcome the extreme financial and other dangers so often associated with informal caregiving,” says Lisa Wendt, president and CEO. “Having a complete understanding and easy access to accurate and relevant information are probably some of the best weapons women can have in dealing with these issues.” Jeffrey Lewis, chairman of WISER, notes of the partnership, "Over the years, we've found that many people--and most women--simply don't have enough information about building a secure retirement or dealing with negative financial impacts of informal caregiving. The solutions they need begin with understanding and education.” WISER works to increase awareness of the structural barriers that prevent women's adequate participation in the nation's retirement systems. Created in 1996 by Teresa Heinz Kerry, chairman of the Heinz Family Philanthropies, its goal is to improve the long term economic security of millions of American women and men. It is an independent 501(C) 3 organization. LifeSecure Insurance Company (www.yourlifesecure.com) offers a new generation of long-term care insurance coverage. The company is focused on providing understandable, affordable coverage, and high levels of customer service and support. The intention behind all this is to help women feel financially secure and knowledgeable enough about a critical financial issue such as the informal caregiving environment.

Two Southern accounting firms, Elliott Davis and Elliott & Warren, have decided to combine their operations and expand in the Charlotte, N.C., market.

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance has provided competitive advantages to companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Marathon Oil and WellPoint, according to a newly released study.

An expert in global fraud protection, Frank Piantidosi has spent the past two decades on forensic investigations, uncovering illegal financial activity around the world.

The International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, the oversight body for the International Accounting Standards Board, has taken several steps to enhance its governance structure and allow more input from government securities regulators, as well as investors.

Internal auditors are finally starting to adapt to the post-SOX era and "rebalancing" some of their priorities as they return to more traditional audit functions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has released a staff accounting bulletin that revises and rescinds some of the rules for written loan commitments to make them more consistent with recent accounting rules.

Accounting firm LarsonAllen has merged with three other firms, expanding its presence in Minnesota and Southwest Florida.

Barry Melancon, president and chief executive of the American Institute of CPAs, and a number of other accounting profession luminaries such as Tim Flynn, chief executive at Big Four firm KPMG, have been named to the Treasury Department's new Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession.The 21-member group will spend roughly a year examining issues facing the auditing profession, including such front-burner topics as audit firm concentration, auditor liability caps, recruiting young people to the profession, the effect of Sarbanes-Oxley and the move toward international standards.

In medieval times, scores of religious contemplatives grappled with such esoterica as how many angels could fit on the head of a pin - comfortably or otherwise. Despite failing religious education for two consecutive years, I don't feel that a theology pedigree is a requirement to ascertain that they probably never reached a consensus on such matters.Fast-forwarding several hundred years, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson recently assembled what he hopes are the best minds to develop recommendations on more practical matters, such as how to sustain a "vibrant audit profession." The committee will spend one year wrestling with that equation, and along the way will tackle ancillary issues like audit firm concentration, audit quality, the process of recruiting and training accountants, auditor independence (not that again!), and the possibility of capping auditor liability in cases of corporate fraud. A 21-member committee, comprised of representatives from business, academic and regulatory circles, will carry out those ambitious marching orders. (For a full roster, see page 3.)

Like many others, we're interested in the work of the Securities and Exchange Commission's recently created advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting. Improvement is something that everybody likes, at least if it doesn't really change very much, and certainly not the important stuff. The committee has some outstanding members, as well as others we don't expect to come up with much new because they've had other, even better, platforms for initiating change but didn't get it done in the past.The chair is Robert Pozen, the non-executive chairman of MFR Investment Management, one of seven American subsidiaries of the Canadian Sun Life Financial group. On the one hand, his affiliation with a mutual fund company is promising because it might mean that Pozen thinks like a financial statement user. However, he is an attorney by training and has been a general counsel in the industry, but never an analyst. Indeed, his present position might make him think more like a statement preparer than a user. Only time will tell which perspective he will apply, although evidence suggests the former will prevail.

After a summer of discussions, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is expected to release as many as 10 documents by the end of the year or early in 2008.Susan Bielstein, FASB director of major projects and technical activities, said that the board had shown strong progress this year, especially with the completion of a business combination standard that it wrote jointly with the International Accounting Standards Board. It was the first joint standard the boards have produced, and it's expected to be released in mid-October. "It was a real milestone in the convergence process," Bielstein said.

When the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council met in September to discuss the use of International Financial Reporting Standards, they found themselves answering questions with questions.FASAC, which advises the Financial Accounting Standards Board on a variety of issues, had been given the task of providing perspectives on where accounting and financial reporting might be going over the next two or three decades - with special consideration of the role of IFRS.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the term “rebalancing.” It has nothing to do with a highwire act although some in the financial community might say that’s exactly what it is. Rebalancing your portfolio is rather critical and it should be done at least annually so that your financial goals remain intact. I do know that many investors don’t even consider this. In fact, friends and family alike tell me that it’s just too time-consuming and besides, they know little about what it takes to do so. To counter this, I like to offer an example. Here’s one courtesy of my friends at First Investors: Take my friend Fred who has a portfolio of 60 percent domestic stocks and 40 percent bonds. He’s had this for the past five years and now it has an allocation of 69 percent domestic stocks and 31 percent bonds. So, over the five year period, stocks went up by 13.4 percent while bonds increased by 4.5 percent. What does this mean? It means that the portfolio wandered or as they call it in financial circles, “drifted.” So, Fred’s portfolio changed rather dramatically even though he did nothing about it for five years. What this also means is that even what appears to be positive developments can easily toss your entire asset allocation out of balance. This translates to a potential for risk coupled with the fact that your return may not be what you had already envisioned. Therefore, if you’ve had a portfolio just sitting there, you might want to reassess the investment priorities, review the securities, and rebalance if necessary. First of all, conducting an annual review requires you to identify whether any of the changes may require a financial response such as a new investment strategy. This may be true because you may have set up certain financial goals or lifestyle considerations which have now changed. Next, if you knew that every investment in your portfolio would throw off the same return year after year, then what would you need to rebalance? That’s not reality. A portfolio drift such as outlined above, can affect your asset allocation…and all to the negative. Finally, suppose your portfolio does need rebalancing. What can you do? The most cost-efficient way to do this is to change the allocation of future investment contributions. What does that entail? Well, you could continue investing the same amount on a regular basis in an overweighed asset while increasing contributions to underweighted investments until you feel that your target has been reached. Or, you can choose to make a lump-sum investment into the asset class that is underweighted. And, you can always sell existing investments that have become overweighted and use those proceeds to buy shares of assets that are then underweighted. Keep in mind that for the last option, mutual fund investors can usually shift money from one fund to another within a fund group without incurring a sales charge. Of course, you still have to consider any tax consequences. But the bottom line is portfolio maintenance. Don’t be inactive!

Regional accounting firm Citrin Cooperman said it was expanding into Philadelphia and building its existing offices with the addition of other accounting firms and practices.

Dell filed its past-due financial reports from fiscal 2003 through 2006 and the first quarter of fiscal 2007, while shedding light on some of the accounting missteps that led to its financial restatements and delays.