Penthouse International Inc. has settled charges of accounting fraud and financial reporting violations, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced last week.Former Penthouse executive Charles Samel and former shareholder Jason Galanis will both pay $60,000 to settle accounting fraud charges and be barred for five years from serving as officers or directors of any public company, although neither man admitted or denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Like many of you who were once college freshman, I can vividly recall my first formalized session of “orientation,” those mandated get-togethers where a group of impressionable 17-and 18-year-olds receive a veritable laundry list from upperclassman and administrators of the do’s and don’ts in academe.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is set to act more formally on efforts to make the United States an easier place to do business, according to published reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Chief Accountant announced the selection of three academic accounting fellows, who will serve one-year terms beginning this summer.

Prabhat Goyal, the former chief financial officer of software manufacturer McAfee Inc., was convicted on 15 counts of securities fraud last week.

Just saw a demo of a rather interesting idea. Of course, it is not unique, but the demo is rather good. Now what is this all about?

Four new members have been appointed to the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee.The trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, part of the Interational Accouting Standards Board, made the three-year appointments, which will be up in June 2010.

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, announced that its 2007 User Conference for tax and accounting professionals will be held Nov. 4-7 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to issue a proposal to have new rules in place for corporate annual meetings in 2008, according to published reports.

The Treasury Department issued rules last week aimed at dismissing some of the uncertainties around Roth 401(k) plans.

A beef over legal fees could mean that the fate of a $10 million verdict won by a pair of Atlanta millionaires against PricewaterhouseCoopers is in greater limbo than previously thought.

Go ahead, say it: Forensic accounting is sexy. At least, that's how those in the field describe this fast-growing niche that incorporates investigation and auditing expertise to provide analysis in a judicial setting."I see more general service firms saying on their Web sites, 'We do forensic accounting,'" said Howard Silverstone, CPA, FCA, CFE and co-founder of Forensic Resolutions Inc., based in Haddonfield, N.J. "Part of it I think it's because it's sexy, and part of it is because they realize there's a legitimate market for it and people really understand it enough now that they are going to be looking for people like us."

Would you give investment or insurance advice to a client without knowing their tax situation?

To argue the success of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, one can point to the strength and integrity of the capital markets and financial systems. If optimistically inclined, one could claim that the rules and procedures are quietly averting crises and major headline news.

PWC DECLINES RE-ELECTION AS AMERIGON AUDITOR

We hate to say how long we have been watching accounting standard-setting, but trust us, it has been a long time. Over those eons, we have been frustrated at the lack of attention granted to the interests of financial statement users and the perennial promotion of the interests of auditors and statement preparers. This imbalance simply does not work for the economy's good, because the capital markets are inefficient if users don't have ready access to the information they need for allocating capital to the right places at the right prices.

If life insurance professionals picture the accounting profession as it was a decade or two ago, they may be forfeiting an opportunity to build a mutually beneficial alliance.

Financial planners reported mean gross earnings of $283,079 in 2006, an increase of more than $50,000 from a year ago, according to a recently released survey.

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to redesign its Form 990, “Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax,” according to published reports.

Two major accounting associations have announced the recipients of research grants for the 2007-08 year.