The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has struck a deal with Dutch regulators to carry out joint inspections of auditing firms.

BDO International said Friday the worldwide revenue of its network of accounting firms increased 7.36 percent for the year ended Sept. 30, 2011, to $5.672 billion, mainly due to growth in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

SEC WARNED AGAINST CONDORSEMENT APPROACH

'Wow" would be sort of an understated onomatopoeia to describe the past year in terms of events, changes and headlines within the accounting profession. As this is my 11th end-of-the-year column, I'll again foolishly predict that 2012 could not possibly top the previous year, despite a decade of being proved wrong. Perhaps this is why I rarely gamble while attending various events in Las Vegas.

Your November coverage of the Chartered Global Management Accountant accreditation, in addition to your, "AICPA, CIMA Plan Push for New Management Credential," (AccoutingToday.com, October 18) sheds light on the critical role management accountants play in today's competitive global marketplace. What this article fails to share is that there are, in fact, gaps with regard to the testing, assessment and measurement of critical skills during the first three years of this venture.

The European Commission has proposed a draft law that could split up the largest auditing firms and force them to use a separate entity and name for their advisory and non-audit practices.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has added a new project to its agenda aimed at reducing or eliminating the need for private companies and not-for-profit organizations to provide as many fair value measurement disclosures as public companies.

Accountants need to be wary of promoting their services as advisors who can help their clients achieve success at the same time the firms are auditing their books.

PwC Reports Fraud, Cyber Crime on the Rise

PCAOB Expands Standing Advisory Group

Accounting firm Clifton Gunderson said Tuesday it is intensifying its efforts to persuade the Financial Accounting Foundation to set up an independent board to set accounting standards for privately held companies.

International Accounting Standards Board chairman Hans Hoogervorst said that regardless of which way the Securities and Exchange Commission decides to go on supporting International Financial Reporting Standards, the main thing that is needed from the U.S. right now is “clarity.”

Trilogy Software Inc. has completed its first-round equity offering of $3.3 million, which will be used to launch the company’s DoxCycle intelligent tax source document management software and to explore opportunities in the professional tax and accounting industry.

The American Institute of CPAs settled its copyright infringement lawsuit Tuesday with KAPLI Inc., a provider of review course materials, over the company’s alleged use of some of the questions and test items from the AICPA’s Uniform CPA Exam that had not previously been made public.

The International Accounting Standards Board and the International Federation of Accountants agreed Tuesday to strengthen their cooperation on developing accounting standards for both the private and public sectors.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has entered into an agreement with the Financial Supervisory Commission of Taiwan to cooperate on oversight of auditors who practice in either the U.S. or Taiwan.

The Private Company Financial Reporting Committee held what is likely to be one of its final meetings last week as the PCFRC gets ready to disband.

The Financial Accounting Foundation’s board of trustees has appointed 13 new members to the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council and five new members to the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council, effective January 1.

A bipartisan pair of influential senators introduced legislation Friday that would make disciplinary hearings against auditing firms public.

The Texas Society of CPAs has weighed in on the Financial Accounting Foundation’s controversial proposal to set up a Private Company Standards Improvement Council and sent a letter expressing its “respectful disagreement.”