The American Institute of CPAs has finalized several documents that should improve the auditing of private companies and the development of nonaudit reports and compilations.

The preparers of financial statements have long been grumbling about accounting standards, which they say are needlessly complex and painfully burdensome. The users of financial statements, on the other hand, have generally advocated detail and transparency.

A federal judge will allow the Securities and Exchange Commission to refile their lawsuit against HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy.

The International Accounting Standards Board has issued a new international financial reporting standard titled, "Financial Instruments: Disclosures," as well as an amendment to its "Presentation of Financial Statements" discussing capital disclosures.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board adopted new ethics and independence rules for auditors that place clear limits on the ability of accounting firms to offer tax services to their audit clients.

The Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges of accounting violations by two former executives at First American Health Concepts Inc., a marketer of vision care plans.

The U.K.'s Accountancy Investigation and Discipline Board said that it is looking into the audit and advisor work that Deloitte performed for bankrupted car manufacturer MG Rover.

OpenPages, a provider of Sarbanes-Oxley software, unveiled SOX Express 3.1, their latest Web-based software for compliance with Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has told Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. that it will likely recommend enforcement action for accounting errors originally disclosed two years ago.

The Uniform Accountancy Act committees of the American Institute of CPAs and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy issued an exposure draft of updated rules governing the profession.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's annual Small Business Capital Formation Forum will be held in conjunction with a meeting of the commission's advisory committee on smaller public companies, Sept. 19 and 20 in San Francisco.

The third edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers' study, "Audit Committee Effectiveness: What Works Best," warns that given their increased workload, audit committees need to resist the temptation to try and do everything themselves.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued a revised exposure draft, titled, "Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets."

Management consulting firm Navigant Consulting Inc. will acquire Canadian forensic accounting practice Kroll Lindquist Avey for $20 million.

An independent committee has finished its report into accounting practices at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., and the country's second-largest doughnut chain has announced plans to reduce past income statements by more than $25 million.

WorldCom's former director of accounting Buford "Buddy" Yates and controller David Myers were each sentenced to a year and a day in prison on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, for their roles in the company's $11 billion accounting fraud.

United Rentals Inc. will hold off on finalizing its recent earnings statements until it finishes an accounting inquiry and restates more than three years of results.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has broadened its four-month-old voluntary Extensible Business Reporting Language filing program to allow mutual funds to file exhibits to their annual report to shareholders and quarterly statements of portfolio holdings using XBRL.

Sandra Harris, who co-headed the Securities and Exchange Commission's Pacific Regional Office for more than 10 years, said that she will leave the regulator for a post in the private sector, though she has yet to announce the specifics of the new job.

Over the last month, at least a handful of lengthy feature stories have come my way about Supreme Court nominee John Roberts -- but the same can't be said about coverage of President Bush's other summertime nominee, Christopher Cox, who was sworn in as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 3.