Audit

A former chief financial officer for a small Virginia bank has been ordered back to work under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's whistleblower protections.

The Auditing Standards Board is issuing a new standard on auditing internal controls. By adopting definitions from Auditing Standard No. 2 of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the standard will make audits of public and private companies more similar."This standard is important because it requires the auditor to communicate with management those areas of their internal control system that are not up to par," said AICPA vice president of professional standards and services Chuck Landes. "We want to make it clear that management has a responsibility for not only their financial statements but their internal control systems, and they are responsible to take appropriate action with respect to any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies that the auditor may identify."

Ernst & Young Global Ltd. announced that Mitchell & Titus LLP, the country's largest minority-owned accounting firm, is expected to join as a member firm this October.

After a six-month vacancy, the Securities and Exchange Commission is zeroing in on a new chairman for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, according to published reports.

Deloitte Tax LLP announced an agreement to sell its Corptax software unit to MLM Information Services LLC. About 1,000 corporations and partnerships use the tax software.

The new risk assessment standards are all about getting back to basics, said expert Hiriam Hasty while speaking at the New York State Society of CPAs' annual Accounting and Auditing in the Nonpublic Environment Conference.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a status report with the U.S. Court of Appeals, saying that it will again ask for public comment on its independence proposal for the boards of most mutual funds.

For the first time, Securities and Exchange Commission information about companies and mutual funds is now fully searchable online.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's top auditor offered some suggestions for the third year of life under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, while speaking at the 25th Annual Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Reporting Institute Conference on June 8.

The profits of companies with difficult-to-read annual reports are lower in following years, according to a study by a University of Michigan business professor.

The Big Four are looking to add to their staff numbers in China, according to a published report.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that securities lawyer Andrew N. Vollmer will serve as the agency's deputy general counsel.

KPMG LLP received federal court approval for a $153 million settlement with more than 200 wealthy investors who bought questionable tax shelters from the Big Four firm.

Ernst & Young has reportedly lost client data containing financial data from more than 240,000 Hotels.com customers.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced that it has scheduled a Standing Advisory Group meeting for June 12 and 13 in Washington.

After months of lobbying from businesses, it's beginning to appear that there's been some progress made in getting the Securities and Exchange Commission to reconsider parts of a proposal requiring companies to disclose the earnings of executives.

The Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities Act has passed through Congress and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush. The bill would allow excluded combat pay to be treated as compensation under IRA contribution rules.

Senior corporate executives predict that merger and acquisition activity in 2006 will surpass last year's performance and remain strong across several industry sectors, according to a new survey from KPMG LLP.

More than 80 percent of financial planners who hold the CFP certification have a high level of career satisfaction, though the profession's 2005 reported median earnings of $232,995 revealed a noticeable drop-off from the previous year.

President Bush has nominated the chairman and chief executive of investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, Henry M. Paulson Jr., as Treasury Secretary.