Audit

Eugene D. O'Kelly, 53, former chairman and chief executive of KPMG, died Sept. 10 at his New York City home at the age of 53.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to give small public companies another extension to comply with the internal control rule outlined in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, according to published reports.

Moving on from its recent legal troubles, KPMG named vice chairs for its tax services and tax services operations.

New guidance from Securities and Exchange Commission regulators sets limits on ways to determine the cost of stock options, though the new SEC chairman said that the report was "tentative."

Although Congress has authorized tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks to help American families cope with rising college costs, millions of taxpayers are failing to cash in on this government assistance.

The Internal Revenue Service said victims of Hurricane Katrina will have until Jan. 3, 2006 to file any returns, pay any taxes, or make any deposits due -- extending an earlier announced reprieve.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will soon give companies more guidance on how to value stock options, according to published reports.

The effects of Hurricane Katrina will be considered "ordinary events" for financial-reporting purposes, according to published reports of a statement by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said that they would waive the tax-credit regulations that prohibit owners of low-income housing providing housing to victims of Hurricane Katrina who don't qualify as "low income."

The Securities and Exchange Commission has joined the growing list of companies and agencies mobilizing to provide relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

I read a little blurb a few weeks back about publishing house John Wiley & Sons' plans to print a "Sarbanes-Oxley for Dummies," the latest edition to its best-selling series.

The chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Donald T. Nicolaisen, will leave the commission in October to return to the private sector.

As if investors and public companies didn't have enough to worry about, a recent "trend alert" from Glass Lewis & Co., an investment research and proxy advisory firm in San Francisco, reported that control deficiencies reported by large companies are at an all-time high, with an increase of 87 percent between 2003 and late 2004 and early 2005.

D&T RESIGNS BRITESMILE: Big Four firm Deloitte & Touche has resigned as auditor for teeth-whitening products manufacturer and marketer BriteSmile Inc.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board's new statements on "other post-employment benefits" won't go into effect until the end of the year, but the questions are already coming in. Some queries are simply asking for a definition of "benefit," while others ask, "Do we really have to do this?"

Accounting for financial instruments with characteristics of liabilities and equities has never been easy, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board has had a hard time hammering out the difference.

Cardinal Health Inc., a maker of medical supplies, said it has set aside $25 million to cover the costs of a potential settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Premier Financial Bancorp Inc. announced a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning concealed loan losses at a bank subsidiary.

A survey by Fidelity Investments recently found that one-third of working adults are delaying their retirement plans due to financial reasons.

Saks Inc. said that its internal investigation confirmed the results of an earlier audit that one of its Saks Fifth Avenue stores overcharged vendors by millions.