Audit

The U.S. Supreme Court will allow a lower court ruling to stand -- finding that International Business Machines Corp. did not commit age discrimination when it changed its pension coverage in the late 1990s.While the ruling paves the final legal road for IBM’s switch to a cash-balance pension plan from a defined-benefit pension, regardless, the company announced a year ago that it would eliminate the cash-balance plan as of Jan. 1, 2008, making enhancements to its 401(k) plan instead.

Deloitte & Touche SpA, the Italian arm of the Big Four firm, will pay Parmalat $149 million to settle investor claims accusing the firm of contributing to the Italian dairy company's collapse in December 2003.

At times, taxing authorities give out surprising beneficial rulings. The only problem is, you must ask for the ruling. For example, there was my October 24, 2006, WebCPA column about an advisory opinion issued by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.It answered the following question: Are you taxed as a New York resident if you move into a New York nursing home for care because you are incompetent and in need of constant medical supervision? According to the opinion, the individual, lacking intent to move, remained a resident of Florida despite the move to a New York nursing home for care.

In a series of deals effective Jan. 1, LarsonAllen LLP acquired four firms, expanding its presence in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Arizona.

Two accountants have entered guilty pleas in connection with the sale of legally-questionable tax shelters.

Sounding a familiar warning, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board criticized Ernst & Young and KPMG for failing to follow accounting rules or gather sufficient evidence for judgments in a number of audits.

Oregon’s Aldrich Kilbride & Tatone LLC has increased its staff 50 percent by merging with a San Diego firm. In a separate deal, Cleveland’s SS&G Financial Services Inc. announced that it has acquired an Ohio neighbor.Financial terms of both mergers were not disclosed.

The board of directors of McGladrey & Pullen LLP has elected David R. Scudder to the post of managing partner.

What kind of company processes payroll and credit card and check payments, and offers banking services and account aggregation? Increasingly, the answer is an accounting software company.

Dixon Hughes PLLC has acquired West Virginia’s Simpson & Osborne AC, while Maryland’s Katz, Abosch, Windesheim, Gershman & Freedman PA recently announced its own acquisition of Annapolis, Md.-based Siebert Kullman PA.

In a brief filed Monday in federal appeals court, 30 states said that a number of investment banks are liable for their alleged role in Enron Corp.’s accounting fraud.

Neal D. Spencer, partner-in-charge of BKD LLP's Kentucky and southern Indiana offices, will take over the reins of the entire firm this summer.

One of New England’s largest independent CPA firms, Carlin, Charron & Rosen LLP, has announced a pending merger with UHY Advisors.Terms of the merger, which should close May 1, were not disclosed. In May 2006, UHY acquired the Boston-based accounting firm Brown & Brown LLP, absorbing the firm’s 80 employees.

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission has commissioned Grant Thornton LLP to develop guidance to help organizations monitor the quality of their internal control systems.

PEAPACK-GLADSTONE FINANCIAL DISMISSES KPMGPeapack-Gladstone Financial Corp. has dismissed Big Four firm KPMG as its auditor and named Crowe Chizek as its new independent accountant. In a filing, the Gladstone, N.J., bank holding company said that it had no disagreements with KPMG on any matter of accounting principles or practices.

Two of our prior columns critiqued the Financial Accounting Standards Board's recent preliminary views document on its new Conceptual Framework project, which, like many other FASB efforts, is a joint undertaking with the International Accounting Standards Board.Those columns examined the boards' take on financial reporting objectives and relevance, both of which are basically enhanced versions of FASB's first framework from the 1980s. While we see some improvement, we wish that the boards had pushed the envelope further and set the stage for more reformation in practice.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will continue its forums on auditing in the small business environment throughout 2007.

KPMG LLP has announced the establishment of the Tax Governance Institute, an open forum for board members, management, stakeholders and government representatives to debate various aspects of tax oversight and management.Through video and audio Web casts, roundtables, other events, and its Web site, the institute’s goal is to regularly bring together interested parties to discuss tax matters of common concern relating to day-to-day and long-term management of corporate tax risk.

In pursuit of auditing standards that would be clear to auditors around the world, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has issued exposure drafts of existing international standards that have been recast in a clearer form.While the changes do not affect auditors in the U.S., who audit under the standards of the Auditing Standards Board, that board may soon begin a similar clarification process, perhaps following the IAASB model, or perhaps devising its own.

As many of you have already discerned by now, I spend a goodly piece of time in England, specifically because I work with the development office and president of my graduate college there on a new capital campaign that will affect women’s health issues worldwide.