Audit

Big Four firm KPMG and its Belgian unit agreed to pay $115 million to settle a class-action shareholder lawsuit that alleged that the firm's audits of Belgium-based Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV violated generally accepted accounting and auditing principles.

Former partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young have joined with executives from Hewlett-Packard and Lucent to form a new consulting company that will focus on helping mid-market companies improve outsourcing effectiveness.

The Department of Justice charged eight former executives of software maker Peregrine Systems Inc., the company's former outside auditor and two of its outside business partners with conspiracy to commit a multi-billion dollar securities fraud.

A coalition of analysts at 17 socially responsible investment firms representing over $147 billion in assets has banded together to call on publicly traded companies worldwide to start reporting annually on their key social and environmental policies, practices and performance.

In an effort to strengthen its wealth management practice, Wachovia Corp., the nation's fifth-largest bank, agreed to acquire wealth advisory firm Tanager Financial Services Inc.

While half of them will need it at some point in their lifetime, when it comes to long-term care, most Americans get a failing grade, according to a survey conducted by MetLife.

South Carolina regulators are reportedly mulling disciplinary action against KPMG LLP over the firm's past sales of allegedly abusive tax shelters.

An astounding 93 percent of chief information officers and other senior information technology executives are unaware of their IT control assessment responsibilities under Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404, according to Obian Inc.

After three years in development, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission has released its finalized Enterprise Risk Management - Integrated Framework.

Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. and former CNN chair Walter Isaacson have been named to the board of the Global Center for Leadership & Business Ethics, an independent entity established to recognize individuals and organizations with extraordinary business ethics and leadership qualities.

Despite a challenging business environment, chief financial officers' optimism about the economy and their own companies' financial prospects remains high, according to a recent poll.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a proposal that would allow filers to submit financial data in eXtensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL.

The International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation Trustees have tapped Australian Stock Exchange chief Richard G Humphry to serve as a trustee from the Asia-Pacific region.

KPMG LLP has admitted 160 new partners for 2004, up nearly 40 percent over the 115 new partners the firm admitted last year.

The American Institute of CPAs has launched the third of its planned Audit Quality Centers.

The regulator charged with overseeing mortgage concern Fannie Mae appears to be considering a shake-up of its top management to clean up the beleaguered firm.

Fund research provider Morningstar Inc. said it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to incorrect total return data that Morningstar published earlier this year for a single mutual fund.

The New Mexico Public Accountancy Board has joined the Securities and Exchange Commission and the California Board of Accountancy in disciplining Ernst & Young over the firm's audits of former client PeopleSoft.

Flexibility and programs aimed at easing the burden on working parents, such as longer parental leave periods, earned all of the Big Four accounting firms spots on Working Mother Magazine's 2004 "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers."

Almost half of fast-growth chief executives surveyed expect a major increase in their company's business taxes over the next two years, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.