The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission issued a request for proposals to develop guidance to help organizations monitor the quality of their internal control systems.

The Internal Revenue Service announced adjustments to the dollar limitations set for pension plans in the 2007 tax year.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued staff questions and answers about auditing the value of stock options granted to employees.The guidance provides direction for auditing a company’s estimation of the fair value of stock options granted to employees under its revised statement on share-based payments, standard, No. 123. The standard became applicable for financial statements of companies with fiscal years ending on or after June 15, 2006.

In a move that wasn’t unexpected, a judge vacated the conspiracy and fraud conviction against the late founder and former chairman of Enron Corp., Ken Lay.U.S. District Judge Sim Lake also granted the request by Lay's estate to dismiss the indictment used to bring Lay to trial. Lay died of a heart attack in early July, less than two months after a jury convicted him on six charges of conspiracy and fraud and Lake found him guilty on four charges of bank fraud.

The managing executive of the Crowe Chizek’s Commercial Services Group will become the chief executive of Crowe Group LLP in April.Charles “Chuck” Allen, 53, will succeed Mark L. Hildebrand, who is completing his second term as the head of the firm. Hildebrand was first named chief executive in 1999.

What’s becoming increasingly apparent as more and more companies reveal the results of internal investigations into the timing of stock options grants to executives, is that there’s really no cut and dry, right or wrong, when it comes to the practice.According to published reports and independent research groups, upwards of 130 publicly traded companies have announced that they are looking into their own options-granting practices -- and the actual number is surely much, much higher than that. But with many of those investigations wrapping up, what comes now?

The American Institute of CPAs has released a second exposure draft of a proposed statement on standards for valuation services.

VALENCE HIRES HELIN DONOVAN: Valence Technology Inc., an Austin, Texas-based developer of rechargeable battery technology, has hired the firm of Helin Donovan Trubee & Wilkinson as its independent accountant.Helin Donovan succeeds Big Four firm Deloitte & Touche as Valence's auditor.

In a significant move toward accounting clarity and better financial management, the General Assembly of the United Nations has resolved to adopt International Public Sector Accounting Standards and shift from partial accrual to full accrual accounting.The effects of the change will ripple around the globe, as governments recognize the authority of the international standards.

Our previous column reviewed the improvements in financial reporting that will follow from a new standard requiring capitalization of all material leases. When that reform is implemented, it will replace a 30-year-old standard with practices that should have been put in place, well, 30 years ago.As we described, moving to capitalization will have many effects, the most obvious being the introduction of a new liability to the lessee's balance sheet. It will also put a new asset into the base of the reported return on assets ratio at an amount that currently cannot be estimated from the footnote.

AMERITAS DIRECT ROLLS OUT NO-LOAD ANNUITY: Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. has unveiled its Genesis No-Load Variable Annuity, distributed via its Ameritas Direct unit, which markets the No-Load series of insurance and annuity products to self-directed consumers.Ameritas Direct designed the Genesis Variable Annuity, which features no commission, no sales charge, no withdrawal charge and no policy fee. (Gains are taxed as ordinary income and additional penalties may apply to withdrawals made prior to age 59-1/2.)

Do you have clients who complain that their life insurance was supposed to be paid up by now, but it isn't? Notices from their insurance companies may even indicate that their suggested premium payment has increased, or that their policies are about to lapse.Do you have clients whose investment-type life insurance policy is not performing as projected? Ever have clients cancel their life insurance and get a taxable statement of gain? This can even happen if their policy lapses and they get nothing back (they had a paper gain).

"The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator. This means that he should be able to justify every purchase he makes and each price he pays by impersonal, objective reasoning that satisfies him that he is getting more than his money's worth for his purchase."These are the words of Benjamin Graham, a stock market investor and economist who was famous for remarkable returns from investing in stocks, value investing and influencing Warren Buffet.

When my oldest daughter was about to celebrate her second birthday, I had heard and read ad infinitum about the woes that awaited me upon the arrival of the “terrible twos.”

A Senate panel’s review of interactions between imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a number of tax-exempt organizations had lead the committee to question the groups’ tax status and a portion of the federal Tax Code dealing with unrelated business income taxes.

Statistics show that more than 50 percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce.The process of a divorce can create tremendous animosity between the parties, and this can lead to difficult financial issues for those affected by the split. There are many complex federal tax issues that need to be planned for, or they will create tremendous pitfalls. The Internal Revenue Code also contains several provisions that provide specific guidance for divorce-related transactions.

Year-end tax planning opportunities abound this year. They do so not only because it has been a particularly active year for tax legislation, but also because of other significant tax developments taking place in 2006, as well as changes from pre-2006 tax legislation that have a particular impact this year and next.Traditional year-end tax strategies should not be abandoned. Income should either be accelerated or postponed between 2006 and 2007, depending upon the anticipated tax brackets for each client. Similarly, deductions and credits should be manipulated to lower income either in the more favorable year or, in some cases, in both years, before midnight, Dec. 31, 2006, has come and gone.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has set a new standard that establishes a long-needed framework on fair value measurement and expands related information in financial reports - and the investor community, according to FASB board member Leslie F. Seidman, is going to love it.Though Statement 157, Fair Value Measurements, does not require any new or additional fair value measurements, it applies to over 40 existing standards that require or permit the measurement of assets and liabilities at fair value.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's top accountant has added his thoughts on how to properly account for stock options in the historical financial statements of public companies.In a letter sent from his office, SEC Chief Accountant Conrad Hewitt discusses the consequences offered under Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees. The letter, sent to committee chairmen at Financial Executives International and the American Institute of CPAs, discusses dating an option award to predate the actual award date, option grants with administrative delays, the uncertainty as to the validity of prior grants, and other related circumstances.

Merrill Lynch, considered the world's largest employer of brokers, is now undergoing a change on what it is teaching its trainees. Instead of instructing them on how to make cold calls, they are putting those new employees in classrooms that emphasize statistical analysis, financial planning, and wealth management. Merrill’s new training program specifically covers the Monte Carlo analysis and they also have psychology classes such as behavioral finance.