Audit

Accounting firm Carr, Riggs & Ingram has acquired Cuthill & Eddy, a CPA practice based in Winter Park, Fla., in the Orlando area.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has named a slate of new appointments and reappointments to its Standing Advisory Group for 2008.

Office Depot said it would delay the release of its third-quarter earnings because of an issue involving the recognition of vendor program funds.

Many firms conduct surveys and issue releases summarizing them hoping for the maximum press coverage. Grant Thornton is one of the “best” at it.

Fitch Ratings has released a report on the recent disruptions in the credit market and the effect of two new accounting standards.

"They'll isolate you, exclude you, encourage you to leave the company and to move," said Cynthia Cooper, former vice president of the internal audit department at WorldCom, talking about her experience as a whistleblower.

Nearly everyone can use lessons in financial literacy, and Dan Iannicola Jr., deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Treasury Department's financial education office, provided suggestions on how women accountants can educate their clients.

I just reviewed the results of a couples retirement study conducted by TNS Canadian Facts for Scotiabank and was surprised to learn that when it comes to retirement, Canadian couples aged 50 and above simply don’t agree with each other on such important topics as finances and lifestyle. Apparently, according to the study, this lack of consensus comes from too little conversation. (So, what else is new?) The study looked at Canadian couples with at least one partner aged 50 or over and still working. It examined attitudes and planning for post retirement as well as financial and lifestyle priorities. Examples of such priorities include travel, spending time with family and friends, practicing healthy aging, and accommodations. (That last one refers to place of abode.) It also reflects the fact that less than one quarter of respondents claim to have had a thorough discussion with their spouse or partner about all aspects of retirement while 55 percent say they have a rather rough idea of how each other feels. Some 23 percent haven’t discussed it all, or haven’t discussed it as much as they should. (I love that “rough” idea.) In short, the results found that Canadian couples are most out of touch with each other in the areas of financial planning, financial concerns, and their outlook toward retirement. In fact, some 60 percent disagree on the basic question of whether or not they are even looking forward to retirement. (Oh, my, that’s not what I hear from my train buddies who are much younger than me and would retire at the drop of a dime.) Moreover, couples apparently also disagree when it comes to the role that family and friends will play in retirement, with only half agreeing. Surprisingly, in only eight percent of couples are both people primarily interested in spending time with their partner rather than with other family/friends or by themselves. (Ouch!) This Couples Retirement Study was conducted for Scotiabank using TSN Canadian Facts online panel. Respondents for the survey were couples who are married or in a common-law relationship, with at least one partner aged 50 or over, and working full-time. Household investable assets were at least $50,000. Of course, couples do share the same level of concern in their ability to retire comfortably with 65 percent saying that they are very or fairly confident they can do so. A full 44 percent of respondents, however, still do not have a formal financial plan. (Hmmmmm!)

Two former associate accountants at PricewaterhouseCoopers who have filed an overtime lawsuit against the firm are seeking class-action status in California.

Truck maker Navistar International said it would strengthen its internal controls and financial reporting as it announced a $1.12 billion financial restatement.

A majority of CFOs and senior comptrollers do not agree with proposals to allow companies to file financial statements in International Financial Reporting Standards instead of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, according to a newly released survey by accounting firm Grant Thornton.

Economic crime still prevails in the United States and other parts of the world, as 53 percent of U.S. companies surveyed in a recent global economic crime study reported that they were affected by some form of it in the past two years, with losses totaling $223 million.

SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins told U.S. business leaders in Japan that a recently issued auditing standard should have the effect of cutting audit fees.

A former Arthur Andersen audit partner has settled charges brought against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that he assisted in a $300 million fraud committed by an audit client in 2000.Without admitting or denying the charges, Fred Gold agreed to a $100,000 fine, a permanent anti-fraud injunction, and an administrative order barring him from appearing or practicing before the commission.The SEC alleged that Gold should have known that the 2000 financial statements of American Tissue -- the audit of which he supervised and approved -- included fraudulently inflated assets and earnings, and also that in 2001 Gold altered work papers to prevent discovery of the fraud in a peer review, and later tried to hide the audit failure by destroying documents and e-mails after another accounting firm discovered American Tissue's overvalued inventory.Earlier, former Andersen audit manager John Parson and senior accountant Brendon McDonald settled SEC charges in the same matter; Parson for $50,000 and permanent suspension from practicing before the commission, and McDonald for a $30,000 penalty and a five-year suspension.

The Treasury Department has selected a Kansas professor to study the effects of financial restatements.The department picked Susan Scholz, a professor at the University of Kansas, to carry out the study, which will look at the impact of public company financial restatements and the reasons behind them. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson discussed the need for a better understanding of these issues back in May.While Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and tougher auditing standards have forced companies to issue a growing number of restatements, some observers have questioned whether immaterial restatements might unnecessarily harm investor confidence.Scholz will examine the factors triggering public company financial restatements, describe the restatements, analyze their impact, and evaluate their significance.The Treasury Department chose Scholz through the competitive bidding process. She is an associate professor and Harper Faculty Fellow at the University of Kansas School of Business, and received her doctorate in business administration from the University of Southern California.

Software developer Paisley has announced an updated version of its governance, risk and compliance software, Paisley Enterprise GRC.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released a report on the issues it has identified from inspections of U.S. firms that audit 100 or fewer public companies.

Because of the thousands upon thousands of press releases that I have seen, very few impress or take me by surprise. But the one at www.healthsouth.com/who_we_are/press_releases.asp did just that. In the release, HealthSouth Corporation announced that it has received a $440 million tax recovery from the IRS “for overstatements of taxable income attributable to financial fraud perpetrated by members of prior management.” This recovery includes a $296 million tax refund for the tax years 1996 through 1999, and $144 million of associated interest income.

BIOFUEL ENGAGES GRANT THORNTONBioFuel Energy Corp., a Denver-based producer of ethanol, has named Grant Thornton as its new independent accountant.

Regular readers know that we often challenge financial reporting participants to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."This ancient oath covers all the bases by binding witnesses to tell what they know to be true, not diminished by leaving something out and not augmented by adding something extraneous. One or even two out of three simply isn't good enough.