Audit

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.

A study commissioned by the board of the International Federation of Accountants has issued a series of recommendations to the financial reporting "supply chain" in order to achieve convergence on global accounting and auditing standards.

Troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae said this week that a report on its accounting policies and practices uncovered serious issues that raised doubts about the validity of its previous financial results.

The California Board of Accountancy has sanctioned Ernst & Young over the firm's independence in its audit of former client PeopleSoft.

The tax burden on middle- and higher-income families would rise if the package of tax breaks is allowed to expire at year-end, according to an analytical breakdown by Deloitte Tax.

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. has named Sarah Ball Teslik, executive director of the Council of Institutional Investors, as its new chief executive.

Securities and Exchange Commission chief accountant Donald T. Nicolaisen has asked KPMG LLP to correct a statement that he says the firm attributed to him in a letter it sent to clients.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking for qualified accounting professors to fill four available academic fellowships at its headquarters in Washington.

Chicago (Sept. 21, 2004) -- KPMG LLP has sold its U.S. Corporate Recovery practice to privately held Mesirow Financial, a financial services firm based here.

New York (Sept. 21, 2004) -- A trend among the nation's four largest accounting firms of dropping small audit clients reportedly has the Securities and Exchange Commission's chief accountant concerned.