Audit

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.

Just saw a demo of a rather interesting idea. Of course, it is not unique, but the demo is rather good. Now what is this all about?

Four new members have been appointed to the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee.The trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, part of the Interational Accouting Standards Board, made the three-year appointments, which will be up in June 2010.

J.H. Cohn LLP has acquired the practice of Berenson LLP, a New York accounting firm specializing in solid apparel and import specialization practices.

A beef over legal fees could mean that the fate of a $10 million verdict won by a pair of Atlanta millionaires against PricewaterhouseCoopers is in greater limbo than previously thought.

Go ahead, say it: Forensic accounting is sexy. At least, that's how those in the field describe this fast-growing niche that incorporates investigation and auditing expertise to provide analysis in a judicial setting."I see more general service firms saying on their Web sites, 'We do forensic accounting,'" said Howard Silverstone, CPA, FCA, CFE and co-founder of Forensic Resolutions Inc., based in Haddonfield, N.J. "Part of it I think it's because it's sexy, and part of it is because they realize there's a legitimate market for it and people really understand it enough now that they are going to be looking for people like us."

To argue the success of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, one can point to the strength and integrity of the capital markets and financial systems. If optimistically inclined, one could claim that the rules and procedures are quietly averting crises and major headline news.

PWC DECLINES RE-ELECTION AS AMERIGON AUDITOR

We hate to say how long we have been watching accounting standard-setting, but trust us, it has been a long time. Over those eons, we have been frustrated at the lack of attention granted to the interests of financial statement users and the perennial promotion of the interests of auditors and statement preparers. This imbalance simply does not work for the economy's good, because the capital markets are inefficient if users don't have ready access to the information they need for allocating capital to the right places at the right prices.

The partners of Grant Thornton U.K. LLP and RSM Robson Rhodes LLP announced an agreement last week to merge the two firms.Financial terms of the deal, expected to be completed on July 1, were not disclosed. The combined firm will operate under the Grant Thornton name.

Two major accounting associations have announced the recipients of research grants for the 2007-08 year.