Audit

Glass, Lewis & Co., a major player in the world of investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services, announced that Lynn Turner will leave his post as managing director of research on June 8.

The Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously approved guidance yesterday aimed at helping public companies balance their internal control over financial reporting, while at the same time reducing unnecessary costs, particularly for smaller companies.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced that Martin F. Baumann will succeed Phil D. Wedemeyer as director of its Office of Research and Analysis.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox announced that five former chairmen of the commission will join him for a roundtable discussion today.

While such issues as mobility, Sarbanes-Oxley 404, peer review and private company financial reporting continue to impact the accounting profession, keeping the CPA pipeline filled remains the profession’s No. 1 priority, American Institute of CPAs president and chief executive Barry Melancon told attendees at the institute’s spring meeting of its Governing Council.

“A series of accounting irregularities at large companies have deepened public distrust of both accounting and auditing firms.”

Texans have always been an independent bunch, but many Lone Star CPAs think that their state legislature is going too far when it tries to write off Statement 45 of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board as irrelevant.State Senator Robert Duncan and State Representative Vicki Truitt, both Republicans, introduced alternative bills in their respective financial committees that would allow, but not require, governmental entities to issue financial statements that do not comply with Statement 45. The bills define an alternative method of accounting that would not record projected post-retirement benefits as a liability.

GRANT THORNTON DROPS PAIR OF SUBPRIME CLIENTSGrant Thornton has quit as auditor to subprime lenders Fremont General Corp. and Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co..

H&R Block Inc. announced that its new bank opened more than 2 million prepaid card bank accounts by the end of the 2007 tax season, doubling the company’s original projection.

Although progress has been made with regard to auditor reviews of internal controls, audit firms haven't used the most efficient techniques, according to a report from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.The audit watchdog examined a total of 275 audits of internal controls over reporting performed by registered public accounting firms, specifically looking at the second-year implementation of the board's Auditing Standard No. 2 on internal controls.

Two years ago, I thought that the strategy of outsourcing tax returns overseas had prompted some fairly spirited debates within the accounting profession and made slam dunk opinion pieces and commentary for Accounting Today.

In a sweeping macro-view of major accounting issues poised to impact the profession, Financial Accounting Standards Board chairman Robert Herz said that the profession can get to a better reporting system, but it’s going to take some changes to get there.

Frank Piemonte over at River Communications, a company that handles public relations, marketing, and corporate communications for many prominent clients, sent me some info that was new to me. He says that according to the Senior Sentiment Survey from Financial Freedom, some one-third of senior homeowners are carrying mortgage debt on their primary home. We’re talking about seniors aged 62-75. And of these seniors, 59 percent indicate they still have 10 years of more before the mortgage is paid off while 27 percent have more than 20 years left on their mortgages.Financial Freedom commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct this, its third annual study on the opinions of senior citizens in the U.S.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will vote on a final standard on auditing internal control over financial reporting next week, as well as taking up a related independence rule and conforming those amendments to the board’s auditing standards.

Section 404 compliance cost corporate America less in Year 3 of its adoption, than in each of the first two years, according to a recent survey.

Only 6 percent of companies have assessed how statement No. 157, “Fair Value Measurement,” will impact the valuation of their assets and liabilities, according to a recent online poll conducted by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP.

Penthouse International Inc. has settled charges of accounting fraud and financial reporting violations, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced last week.Former Penthouse executive Charles Samel and former shareholder Jason Galanis will both pay $60,000 to settle accounting fraud charges and be barred for five years from serving as officers or directors of any public company, although neither man admitted or denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Like many of you who were once college freshman, I can vividly recall my first formalized session of “orientation,” those mandated get-togethers where a group of impressionable 17-and 18-year-olds receive a veritable laundry list from upperclassman and administrators of the do’s and don’ts in academe.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is set to act more formally on efforts to make the United States an easier place to do business, according to published reports.

Crowe Chizek and Co. LLC announced that it intends to combine practices with New Jersey-based Enterprise Financial Consulting Group LLC.