In a memo to federal regulators, lawyers for American International Group Inc.'s former chief executive outlined a case that the company's $3.9 billion earnings restatement was unnecessary and that any blame lay with its auditor of the past two decades, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Time Warner Inc. will set aside $3 billion in reserves for shareholder lawsuits over the AOL merger, and in a separate announcement, plaintiff lawyers said that accounting firm Ernst & Young, the company's auditor, has agreed to contribute another $100 million.

The Financial Reporting Review Panel, one of Britain's audit watchdogs, released its first report into the United Kingdom's accounting principles, saying it found "no evidence of systemic weakness."

The former vice chairman of Cendant Corp. was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $3.27 billion to the hotel franchise and travel company for his role in an accounting scandal at Cendant's predecessor, CUC International.

The administrators of a Utah college savings plan have settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission for issuing false and misleading information, though the fund's former director will be charged with misappropriating funds.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's advisory committee on smaller public companies has published a series of questions to solicit public input from investors and companies on ways to improve the current regulatory system for smaller companies and to examine the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Tax information providers CCH and RIA both released comprehensive explanations and practical analyses of the tax provisions contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005.

Software manufacturer Computer Associates International Inc. has hired Marc Loupé, formerly a vice president of finance with Sun Microsystems, as a senior vice president and internal audit head.

Tax preparation giant H&R Block Inc. has said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it overstated net income for 2003 and 2004 by $91.1 million, due mostly to accounting errors.

California Republican Rep. Christopher Cox will serve as the new chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, after the Senate confirmed President Bush's pick alongside Democrats Roel Campos and Annette Nazareth, who will round out the five-member panel.

The board of the International Federation of Accountants has initiated a global study on how to enhance the quality of the financial reporting supply chain.

Big Four accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP and Reliant Energy Inc. will pay $75 million to settle shareholder class-action lawsuits that alleged that the electric company engaged in illegal trading to boost its stock value during the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001.

In a close vote along party lines, the Senate Banking Committee approved a bill to increase oversight of mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as reduce their combined $1.5 trillion investment portfolios by about $600 billion.

As expected, the Senate Banking Committee voted Thursday to recommend confirmation of President Bush's three nominees to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

New York officials have reached a settlement with the final trio of former WorldCom executives named in a shareholder lawsuit.

A former executive at telecommunications company Qwest Communications International Inc. will pay $2.1 million to settle civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Casey allegedly backdated contracts allowing Qwest to immediately recognize revenue it would not receive until later.

Gerber Scientific Inc. announced Tuesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has ended an investigation into accounting irregularities at the maker of industrial manufacturing equipment.

Much has changed at J.H. Cohn from its start 85 years ago in Newark, N.J., to its current status as one of the largest independent accounting firms in the country with offices in New York, New Jersey, California and the Cayman Islands.

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

SLM Corp., the parent company of student loan lender Sallie Mae, said Monday that it had fired the subsidiary's chief financial officer and disciplined several other executives after finishing an internal accounting investigation.