Audit

As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission this week postponed for a year the final phase-in period for rules that would shorten the amount of time that larger companies, known as "accelerated filers," have to file their quarterly and annual reports.

As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission this week postponed for a year the final phase-in period for rules that would shorten the amount of time that larger companies, known as "accelerated filers," have to file their quarterly and annual reports.

Annual Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs averaged $16 million -- a jump of 77 percent from last year, according to a survey of corporate boards by RHR International and Directorship.

Deloitte ranks highest in satisfaction with tax firm performance among the Big Four, according to a study of tax firm performance by J.D. Power and Associates.

So much for a one-time project: Companies will spend an estimated $5.8 billion on meeting Sarbanes-Oxley Act requirements in 2005, with more than a third planning to increase SOX spending next year, according to AMR Research.

Corporate governance software and services provider Axena Inc. has expanded into Europe.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is reaching out to smaller accounting firms and small public companies with a new initiative to provide information about the board's inspections process and the impact of new auditing standards.

Compliance software provider Axentis has named Ken Sexton as its chairman and chief executive.

Smaller companies could get a reprieve from the Securities and Exchange Commission on filing internal control documentation, according to published reports.

Randolph C. Blazer, the chairman and chief executive of BearingPoint, who led the former KPMG Consulting unit through its split with KPMG LLP and its transition to a public company, has resigned.

The sale of many of its offices two years ago pushed financial planning and tax prep firm Gilman+Ciocia Inc. into the black for fiscal 2004, as a $6.1 million gain on that sale wiped out an operating loss of just over $1 million for the year ended June 30.

It seems everyone, from audit committee chairs to chief financial officers, is feeling the pressure of Sarbanes-Oxley. The result, according to a study of audit firm performance, is low accounting firm performance levels compared to other business-to-business studies and a decline in the confidence level of the accounting profession, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued proposed regulations that would permit distributions to be made from a pension plan under a "bona fide phased retirement program." It also would set forth requirements for the program.

Sarbanes-Oxley regulations have left many public company executives confused about what can and cannot be discussed with their auditors, according to Marjorie Bailey, an officer of San Francisco-based CPA firm Stonefield Josephson.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted this week to open to public comment proposed new rules related to the governance, transparency, oversight and ownership of the stock exchanges.

Good judgment and thorough disclosure -- from both auditors and issuers -- are the keys to restoring investor confidence in the capital markets as well as the accounting profession, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chairman William McDonough told a gathering of financial executives here.

The National Association of Securities Dealers charged H&R Block Financial Advisors Inc., the investment arm of the tax prep giant, with fraud in the sale of $16 million worth of Enron Corp. bonds after the energy firm's finances and bond ratings had begun to collapse.

Auto loan provider United PanAm Financial Corp. said that it will restate three years of financial statements due to a programming error in its accounting system that led it to fail to properly reverse $3.1 million in accrued interest on certain charged-off accounts since 1998.

Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges and universities for the 2004-05 year climbed 10.5 percent from last year's levels, to $5,132, while fees at four-year private schools rose 6 percent, to $20,082, the College Board reported.

Electronic Data Systems postponed for the second time the release of its third quarter earnings pending an evaluation by the company and its auditor of an asset impairment related to its Navy Marine Corps Intranet account.