Audit

The American Institute of CPAs testified before Congress in favor of exempting CPAs from oversight by the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, arguing that CPAs are already highly regulated.

The SEC is expected to turn its attention once again this fall to the question of adopting International Financial Reporting Standards now that the financial crisis has eased.

A group of securities regulators from around the world is defending the need to safeguard the independence of the accounting standard-setting process.

Business consulting and internal audit firm Protiviti Inc said it has formed an advisory board to assist its clients with navigating the unstable economic and regulatory environment.

I’m working on our annual women in accounting feature and one question keeps popping up: why, in 2009 are we still discussing the lack of high ranking women in the profession?

The Securities and Exchange Commission has levied a $3 million penalty against Charles Johnson Jr., the former CEO of PurchasePro, a now-defunct business-to-business online exchange company that was involved in an accounting fraud case with AOL.

SEC Chief Accountant Jim Kroeker told a group of CPAs that accounting standard-setters should avoid a “race to the bottom” when working on convergence.

Moss Adams CEO Rick Anderson has written to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urging him and other world financial leaders at the G-20 meeting next week to act more quickly on global accounting and corporate governance issues.

IMGCAP(1)]It’s easy for managers to overlook risks. Financial risk managers may ignore nonfinancial risks. Business managers responsible for a particular line item (such as costs) may downplay risks unrelated to their particular line item. Firms often manage their risks compartmentally — for example: the treasury department for foreign exchange and interest rates; the procurement department for commodity purchases; and the insurance department for catastrophic risks.

The group overseeing the International Accounting Standards Board has written to President Obama and the other G-20 leaders saying it is following the G-20 recommendations for dealing with fair value accounting for loans, after banking interests charged that it was not.

The banking and insurance industries have been playing arbitrage with the various accounting standards produced by U.S. and international standard-setters.

An organization representing major life and property/casualty insurance and reinsurance companies has criticized a new measurement approach for insurance contracts recommended by the staff of the International Accounting Standards Board.

IMGCAP(1)]On September 4, the President took another important step toward a more open and transparent government by announcing a new policy to voluntarily disclose White House visitor access records.

CCH has launched the CCH Learning & Development Academy, a training program for accounting firms of all sizes.

[IMGCAP(1)] Adam Wolf isthe type of guy you’d want to bring along to a networking event or have as aguest at a dinner party. He’s got a plethora of stories to tell, is a fast (andsmooth) talker, and naturally knows how to bring people who would benefit fromeach other together.

Eighty-nine percent of financial executives view mandatory conversion to International Financial Reporting Standards to be either highly likely or somewhat likely in the U.S., according to a new survey by Deloitte.

SEC officials testifying at a Senate Banking Committee hearing pledged to do more to investigate Ponzi schemes.

The American Bankers Association has written to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke asking them to raise accounting issues at the upcoming G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh in order to curb efforts by standard-setters to expand mark-to-market accounting to loans and debt instruments.

The International Accounting Standards Board’s oversight body has proposed a series of changes aimed at providing better governance of the standard-setter, including renaming the organization the International Financial Reporting Standards Board.

The Center for Audit Quality has created a free online Guide to International Financial Standards to educate people about the uncertain state of the IFRS roadmap.