The Financial Accounting Foundation said Wednesday that, as part of its oversight of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, it has commissioned an independent academic study of the purposes of financial accounting and reporting of state and local governments.

ParenteBeard LLC has launched a sustainability practice to work with clients on establishing sustainability initiatives at their organizations.

Not all of the state legislation drawing attention from accountants this year involves taxes (see States Enact Flurry of Tax Changes). Indeed, some of the most closely watched bills hit even closer to home for the profession.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants is firing back as government regulators worldwide are proposing changes in the way the audit profession works.

Ez-XBRL Solutions, a global provider of XBRL data conversion services and analytics platforms, released on Tuesday an enhanced version of its Ez-XBRL Validator product, which provides a range of validations for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filers.

To mark Small Business Week, the Internal Revenue Service is highlighting the tax benefits and resources available to small businesses this year.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have published new requirements for fair value measurement and disclosure.

The American Institute of CPAs has promoted assistant general counsel Michael J. Buddendeck to the job of general counsel and secretary.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board appears to be once again on the slow path to convergence with International Financial Reporting Standards, but it will probably get there in the end.

The Securities and Exchange Commission provided information Tuesday on filing financial statements in Extensible Business Reporting Language for public companies that will soon be required to file in the XBRL format.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is still aiming to preserve its job as the standard-setter for private company accounting, while expanding its outreach and consultation with representatives of privately held businesses.

Financial Accounting Standards Board chair Leslie Seidman gave an overview of the work of the board as it tries to achieve its convergence goals with the International Accounting Standards Board, and said they were taking extra time to get the standards right and trying to simplify them to make them easier for accountants to apply.

The Pan African Federation of Accountants held its first meeting in Dakar, Senegal, this week.

The American Institute of CPAs told a congressional subcommittee that it should urge the U.S. Small Business Administration to increase its small business size standards for small business accounting firms to $25.5 million from the current $8.5 million.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chairman James Doty plans to unveil a new model for the auditor's report and said he wanted to see disciplinary proceedings for auditing firms to be made public.

The issue includes articles on the following topics and more:

IMGCAP(1)]Check out the May 2011 issue of Accounting Today.

The International Federation of Accountants’ Professional Accountants in Business Committee has issued proposed guidance on how accountants can help businesses and their own firms do better forward-looking analysis.

The American Institute of CPAs has decided to consolidate its continuing professional education operations in North Carolina, which will result in the closure of its Texas office by next March.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued an Accounting Standards Update that would revise the rules for how companies can deal with repurchase agreements like the kind Lehman Brothers used to temporarily move billion of dollars of assets temporarily off its books before reporting its quarterly results.