Intuit, which is ramping up an aggressive expansion of its product line for small businesses, is also jumping into the financial planning market.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged two accountants in connection with auditing the financial statements of bankrupt cable company Adelphia Communications Corp.

After agreeing to pay some $195 million in a settlement to roughly 280 investors in its tax shelters, Big Four firm KPMG is under fire again, this time from a critical inspection report from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which identified a number of deficiencies in some 18 of 76 audits that it examined.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board said that it would assemble an investor task force -- a group comprised of top-level asset managers who will help advise the standard-setter on accounting issues relevant to Wall Street.

William McDonough, chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, cautioned auditors not to expect lawmakers to cap liability claims until they have won back public confidence.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, a unit of the International Federation of Accountants, has approved a revised standard that the governing body says will enhance audit quality via stricter requirements for documentation.

The European Parliament approved the controversial Eighth Directive, a sweeping reform measure that mandates new oversight rules for auditors.

In a ruling that may affect the future of state job creation strategies across the nation, the Supreme Court will rule on how states can use tax incentives to entice large concerns such as car companies to make capital investments.

Wolters Kluwer Corporate & Financial Services will provide the Internal Revenue Service with online access to capital gain and loss information on publicly traded securities.

Without the release of all pertinent documents by San Diego's pension board, attorney's office and firefighters union , auditor KPMG says that its review of the city's 2003 year could drag on even longer.

The Norwegian branch of KPMG International will pay $53.6 million to eight banks in order to settle damages over one of the country's worst bankruptcies.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox will recuse himself to avoid any appearance of impropriety in the agency's investigation of Cox's former congressional colleague, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

The board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation appointed telecomm executive Robert J. DeSantis as president and chief operating officer.

Years of lower equity risk premiums have prompted advisors to begin looking beyond the traditional modern portfolio theory for strategies that can produce heftier returns.Enter the core/satellite design - defined as a commitment to longer-term investing in "core" vehicles, combined with satellites of frequently changed assets that can add to returns.

ZONES INC. DISMISSES PWC: Zones Inc., an Auburn, Wash.-based reseller of information technology products, dismissed Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as its independent accountant and hired Grant Thornton as its successor.In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Zones said that it had no accounting disagreements with its former auditor over the last two fiscal years.

Audit committees have never felt so stressed and stretched. Everybody, from stock exchanges to boards of directors to investors, expects more from them, and the penalties for failure have never been more serious.As a result, audit committees are meeting more often, setting more serious agendas tilted more toward inquiry, demanding more of internal auditors, and calling for committee members with better qualifications.

In our preceding five columns, we have expressed our concerns to our good friends at the Financial Accounting Standards Board about their May 2005 exposure draft on the hierarchy of accounting principles.We confess that we yawned when we first saw this document superficially. However, a closer, more careful look made us sit upright and kick into gear. We don't think they meant anything sinister, but we found great hubris in their words.

EARNINGS FOR FINANCIAL PLANNERS RISE IN 2005: Earnings for financial planners have risen 27 percent from their 2004 levels, according to a survey conducted by the College for Financial Planning in conjunction with the Financial Planning Association. Its 2005 Survey of Trends in the Financial Planning Industry showed that the median gross amount of planner earnings climbed to $277,800 in 2005.The majority of CFP professionals surveyed (56 percent) also reported that their income is the result of a combination of fees for service and commissions, while only 34 percent reported that their income is the result of fee-only services. When asked about clients' net worth, planners reported the continuation of a trend from previous years, with a 33 percent increase - to $1 million - over last year's reported amount of $750,000. In other findings regarding the financial planning market, 67.3 percent of planners participating in the survey prepared between one and 19 single-focus plans, while 62.7 percent prepared up to 19 comprehensive plans.

Investment advisors write books for many reasons.Some have practice management techniques that they feel could help others. Some have a particular planning or investment expertise. Others just want to see their name on the dust jacket. Check your cost benefit analysis calculators before starting, say veteran scribes: The task is a monumental one, and the benefits often come quite indirectly.

The recently enacted Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005 includes new and substantial tax incentives for individuals to make energy-saving (and some energy-creating) improvements to their homes.The incentives come in the form of tax credits, which reduce federal tax bills on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Unlike many other tax credits contained in the Internal Revenue Code, these energy tax credits are not phased out for higher-income individuals. These credits are available for certain energy-saving home improvements made in 2006 and 2007.