A board within the International Federation of Accountants is seeking comment on its exposure draft that addresses what auditors should consider when dealing with related parties and related-party transactions.

You hear over and over again that your money has to outlive you, even for an hour. When I talk to friends and family about various financial planning aspects, the most feared one is exactly that...outliving money.There is this woman, age 91, that I know. She is a widow, in relatively good health, has a house that is fully paid (no mortgage), has a Social Security check that comes in each month for some $1,800 and a small pension amount from a prior job of about $110 a month. She buys very little food because she goes to a senior center almost every day and they load her up on free food.

The Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Board has approved the nomination of James H. Quigley -- currently the head of Deloitte’s U.S. arm -- as the next global chief executive officer of the Big Four firm, though worldwide member firm partners must still vote on the appointment.Quigley, who has served as Deloitte's U.S. chief for the past four years, will succeed William G. Parrett, another former U.S. chief whose eight-year term ends on May 31.

Sage Software has unveiled the latest version of Sage Fundraising 100, its donor relationship management system for midsized and large nonprofit organizations.

Responding to extension requests, restaurants and bars will have a few extra months -- until June 30 for this year only -- to elect to participate in the Internal Revenue Service’s Attributed Tip Income Program.

The Government Accountability Office recently released a report on detailing some of the conclusions gleaned from a recent forum on engaging and retaining older workers.

Every so often, the death of the small software reseller is predicted.

In a return to the office’s roots, the Securities and Exchange Commission has named a director for its Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs. Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service has appointed a new head of its Office of Professional Responsibility, which was created in the wake of the Enron implosion.

In a unanimous vote, 412-0, the House said that it will require a trio of accounting regulators to provide regular updates on the work being done to reduce the complexity of financial reporting and develop principles-based accounting standards.Through 2012, either the chairmen or other designees from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board will now provide annual testimony to the House Financial Services Committee.

Despite escalating responsibilities, audit committees are spending less time on the priority issue of risk oversight, and also failing to develop diversity of talent and expertise within their own ranks.That’s the conclusions of Ernst & Young’s “2006 Audit Committee Survey,” which found that during the past year, audit committees have spent 20 percent or less of their time on risk oversight, and that 91 percent of audit committee members are over the age of 50, while only 8 percent of committees have more than one female member.

A flurry of e-mails and letters arrived just under the deadline for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s 70-day comment period regarding proposed changes to the audit standard on internal controls over financial reporting.

The International Federation of Accountants is seeking nominations for members of its boards and committees in 2008.

A new industry group is looking to make inroads in building support for its policy positions in Washington.The Center for Audit Quality will focus on topics such as auditor protection from lawsuits, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and how companies report financial information.

Small businesses across the U.S. are about to get a facelift.A study sponsored by business software provider Intuit and written by the Institute for the Future, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based nonprofit research group, found that by 2017, small business entrepreneurs will reflect a more diversified, educated population. The white middle-aged male, who for decades was the dominant demographic in American business, will be outnumbered by people near retirement and their children, who are just starting careers.

Back in the late 1990s, this column criticized those who supported pooling-of-interests accounting for business combinations. We called it "pfooling" because it was designed to trick the capital markets into believing false financial statements.Eventually, the Financial Accounting Standards Board did eliminate pooling, although it was unwilling or unable to do anything about the misleading information produced by past poolings through retroactive application. Those bad numbers will hang around for decades, making the affected statements much less useful.

Everybody knows that taxes are a drag on performance, but I am constantly surprised at the number of investors who blithely pay taxes each year on their investment earnings without considering the impact on accumulation or the alternative strategies that they could employ.It's never a good idea to let the tail wag the dog, of course - a rational investor shouldn't seek tax avoidance, or tax minimization per se. But it makes sense to pursue the highest after-tax return.

ONLY 51% READY FOR FISCAL CRISISResults from the fourth annual "financial fitness" survey conducted by Quicken revealed that only 51 percent of consumers were prepared for a financial emergency or had an emergency fund in the event of accident or illness.

LogicalApps, a provider of embedded governance software, announced that it has acquired the Integra product line from Applimation, a provider of management consulting and software for businesses using Oracle and PeopleSoft applications.

The Deloitte Foundation, a not-for-profit arm of Deloitte & Touche, announced the 2007 recipients of fellowship grants through the organization’s doctoral fellowship program.

Fitch Ratings has released its annual outlook of issues it expects to continue having an impact on the accounting profession in the coming year.