Audit

Specifics of a deal are being hammered out between federal prosecutors and KPMG LLP, and the name of former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Richard Breeden is being floated to serve as in independent monitor of the firm's future activities.

Symbol Technologies Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Telxon Corp., has settled a lawsuit against former auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers for $18 million.

Earnings for financial planners have risen 27 percent from their 2004 levels according to a survey conducted by the College for Financial Planning in conjunction with the Financial Planning Association.

Reports say KPMG LLP is close to putting behind it a federal investigation into its sale of possibly illegal tax shelters.

British consulting group Lane Clark & Peacock said that the pension deficits for Britain's top 100 companies by market value totaled more than $66 billion as of July, and could affect the way businesses using the new International Financial Reporting Standards are run.

Grant Thornton LLP said that a Chicago judge has recommended that a case brought against the law firm regarding its bank auditing work be dismissed.

Although other states have reportedly considered the strategy, Mississippi is expected to be the first to file criminal charges against Big Four firm KPMG, in connection with benefit tax work the company performed for WorldCom.

Reinsurer MBIA Inc. recently said that it had received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission that it may face civil charges over past reinsurance transactions.

KPMG's 404 Institute, an open forum for accounting professionals, has a two-part Webcast series in their archives for registered users on SOX compliance technology.

The IRS hasn't focused on S corporation audits in 21 years, and needs to update its data so that it can tweak its audit machinery to select audits more effectively. Therefore, they plan to select 5,000 S corporations for random audits under the National Research Program.

Back in the 1960s, Arlo Guthrie arrived on the scene with a song that lasted about 40 minutes if every part was performed. The enduring refrain is, "You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant."

The American Institute of CPAs has finalized several documents that should improve the auditing of private companies and the development of nonaudit reports and compilations.

The preparers of financial statements have long been grumbling about accounting standards, which they say are needlessly complex and painfully burdensome. The users of financial statements, on the other hand, have generally advocated detail and transparency.

The U.K.'s Accountancy Investigation and Discipline Board said that it is looking into the audit and advisor work that Deloitte performed for bankrupted car manufacturer MG Rover.

OpenPages, a provider of Sarbanes-Oxley software, unveiled SOX Express 3.1, their latest Web-based software for compliance with Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

A $193 million settlement may be close for thousands of PNC Financial Services Group shareholders who joined a class-action lawsuit stemming from a 2001 accounting scandal.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's annual Small Business Capital Formation Forum will be held in conjunction with a meeting of the commission's advisory committee on smaller public companies, Sept. 19 and 20 in San Francisco.

A former accountant at bank HVB Group pleaded guilty in the first prosecution arising from a Senate investigation of tax shelters.

The third edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers' study, "Audit Committee Effectiveness: What Works Best," warns that given their increased workload, audit committees need to resist the temptation to try and do everything themselves.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued a revised exposure draft, titled, "Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets."