The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released its latest inspection report on Ernst & Young after the New York-based firm failed to address certain quality control issues to the satisfaction of the PCAOB.

Governmental Accounting Standards Board chairman David Vaudt and Financial Accounting Standards Board chairman Russell Golden discuss how they are working together on initiatives such as leasing and pension standards, communicating about accounting standards in a more understandable way, and reaching out to key stakeholders for input, in a joint interview with Accounting Today editor-in-chief Daniel Hood.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board member Jeanette Franzel told a group of accounting educators that lack of professional skepticism is one of the main reasons for the prevalence of audit weaknesses found in the PCAOB’s inspections of the work of auditing firms.

Governmental Accounting Standards Board chairman David Vaudt talks about his plans as GASB's new leader and the board's agenda for pension standards, post-employment benefits in the retiree health care area, and the need to provide useful information for elected officials and government policymakers, in an interview with Accounting Today editor-in-chief Daniel Hood.

New international membership, partnerships and more ...

Xero signed an integration deal with ConnectWise, a developer of service management software designed exclusively for IT service providers, VARs, ISVs and MSPs, in order to synchronize accounting data between ConnectWise and Xero.

The American Institute of CPAs intends to stop testing for older auditing standards on its Uniform CPA Examination next year.

Deloitte leads Big Four, but smaller firms are the big winners

A roundup of A&A news from the previous month

Companies of all sizes are at risk

Lately, one word keeps emerging in the stories I write, the conversations I have, and the events I attend: collaboration.

Social media is all about powerful communication tools

Research shows what drove accounting firms to start offering financial planning services

New kinds of technology and new standards are changing the face of this core service

How five firms are changing the internship model for the mid-tier

Accountants are very careful with other people's secrets, but willing to share their own at the drop of a hat.

No one can deny that over the last several years, there have been more mergers and acquisitions in the accounting profession than ever before. The real questions, however, are whether these transactions are really delivering the promised marketing and competitive results.

Tax identity theft has grown exponentially over the past several years. Identity theft has topped the Internal Revenue Service's "Dirty Dozen" annual list of tax scams for both 2012 and 2013, and also appeared on the list in 2011. According to the National Taxpayer Advocate Service, identity theft grew by more than 650 percent between fiscal years 2008 and 2012.

Letters to the editor

A roundup of accounting firm mergers and acquisitions from the previous month