Audit

General Electric vice president and comptroller Phillip Ameen has joined the advisory board of BNA Tax and Accounting's Accounting Policy & Practice Series.

Grant Thornton CEO Edward E. Nusbaum has worked with the firm for 28 years, but since he took over the helm, the Chicago-based firm has more than doubled its revenue in the last four years, reaching $940 million in 2006.

This week marks the five-year anniversary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The legislation has proven to be a boon to many accountants and auditing firms, but a bane to many public companies.

Motive has dropped Ernst & Young as its independent auditing firm after its audit committee conducted an investigation into its own past accounting practices, helped by a law firm that hired PricewaterhouseCoopers.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox says small public companies should start getting ready to comply with the stricter auditing rules of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but left open the possibility of another deferral of the requirement.

Huron Consulting Group has acquired Callaway Partners for $60 million in cash to add Callaway's finance and accounting project management expertise to Huron's financial and consulting services.

You might be surprised what qualifies as an unforeseen circumstance for the partial exclusion of gain on the sale of a personal residence. Under this special rule, taxpayers are allowed to exclude gain up to a reduced maximum exclusion amount under Section 121(c) if the sale is due to a change in place of employment, health, or unforeseen circumstances even though it was used for less than two of the five preceding years as the personal residence.

Two-thirds of investors would be concerned about any easing of Sarbanes-Oxley rules, according to a national survey by the Center for Audit Quality, released in conjunction with the five-year anniversary of the legislation.

Three academics from the U.K. who have written a book about auditing, and a Virginia professor who has developed a taxation education curriculum, will receive awards from Deloitte & Touche’s not-for-profit Deloitte Foundation.

Cougar Mountain Software released Version 12 of its CMS Professional Accounting, Fund and Point of Sale products.

Accounting firm Lovoy, Summerville & Shelton has acquired Granberry & Associates, allowing the firm to expand its client base beyond its home town of Birmingham to Granberry's turf in the Auburn-Opelika area of Alabama.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released its report on its 2006 inspection of KPMG's auditing work, outlining a number of deficiencies.

My friends at the Aurora Financial Group, especially Roccy DeFrancesco, clued me in on what they consider the seven deadly sins of many financial advisors. They say they have seen over the past 40 years a weakness in the advice that any advisors have given. And, here they are: Sin 1: Failing to look at the biggest asset: the house. Most of the financial advisors, Aurora says, are comfortable talking about all the rest of the clients’ assets and investments but when it comes to their mortgage, they note that their eyes glaze over. Sin 2: Failing to advise clients that they could better protect the equity in their house from litigation, natural disaster, downsizing of employment, or down turns in property values. Sin 3: Exposing themselves to possible litigation for not advising clients of all the best investments in terms of their risk tolerance and particular needs. Sin 4: Specializing in areas such as business insurance, college planning, retirement planning, health plans, business continuation, et al, without looking at the big picture for the client that requires a global review of the client’s situation. Aurora says it is vital that advisors surround themselves with people and companies that they can trust so that they can address the bigger picture for all of their clients. Sin 5: Not keeping up with and understanding all the concepts that could be a benefit to the client. Surely, the biggest concern that most clients have is adequate planning for retirement so that there are enough funds for a successful plan, but how many people have adequately planned? Clearly, not enough. Sin 6: Chasing the whale but overlooking the mainstream clients. As Aurora likes to put it, you are more likely to build a successful business on the principles of working with the masses than trying to close the china egg, which may never happen. Sin 7: Not earning the hearts of the clients to the point of getting referrals to be a simple and automatic process. Aurora points out that clients have more choices and have better business acumen that they had in the past. So, they are looking for the value added of working with someone. Keep in mind that people today are able to access more current information by use of search engines and the Internet. Accordingly, financial advisors really need to work hard and to focus on that value added concept.

KPMG, through its private foundation, has awarded 10 more $10,000 minority doctoral scholarships for accounting students, on top of the 35 it has already handed out in the 2007-2008 academic year.

Financial business intelligence software developer Razorsight said it plans to provide spend-analytics software for Kintera's Fundware line of nonprofit and government accounting software.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's new internal control auditing standard, known as AS5, by a 5-0 vote.

Accounting firm BDO Seidman saw its revenue increase $31 million to $589 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has proposed a new ethics rule on communicating with audit committees concerning independence.

United States v. Stein, a U.S. District Court for the Southern District Court opinion (July 17, 2007) by District Judge Lewis Kaplan, is fascinating reading, and may have significant implications for a number of firms.

LogicManager released an upgrade to its LogicERM enterprise risk management software that takes advantage of the new AS5 risk-based audit standard.