The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a discussion paper to solicit input on how to improve, simplify, and converge the financial reporting requirements for hedging activities, as it foresees the possibility of increasing divergence from international standards.

The leaders of four of the largest international accounting and auditing firms told the European Commission on Wednesday that they are ready for more official intervention in the audit market to forestall another financial crisis and they support more competition in the market.

George Diacont, who has served as director of registration and inspection at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board since the board’s inception in 2003, plans to retire in early March.

The next decade will be a period of rapid change and continuous transformation for the accounting profession that will lend itself to greater opportunities for growth and productivity, according to a new report.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales is calling for a “big bang” approach to implementing a series of new International Financial Reporting Standards.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said Thursday that Steven Richards, the former assistant chief accountant in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, will be joining the board as special adviser to the PCAOB’s new chairman, James R. Doty, at the end of March.

President Obama has launched a new initiative to fund small business entrepreneurs known as Startup America, which sounds like something that might better belong on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley than on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

The Miller and Bahnson article "Duh-preciation: Why is this elephant still in the room?" (Accounting Today, Dec. 13-Jan. 10, 2011, page 17) is a great example of the damage sitting in an ivory tower without anything useful to do but play with your ankus does to one's brain cells.

GASB UPDATES 'BLENDED' ENTITIES STANDARDS

The Obama administration proposed permanently eliminating capital gains taxes on some types of small business investments held for over five years.

The Obama administration is expected to propose permanently eliminating capital gains taxes on some types of small business investments held for over five years.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have published a joint set of proposals to account for the impairment of financial assets such as loans managed in an open portfolio.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have published a proposal to establish a common approach to offsetting financial assets and liabilities on the balance sheet.

Sherron Watkins, the former vice president at Enron who tried to blow the whistle on the accounting violations at the scandal-plagued Houston energy-trading giant, told an audience at a seminar Friday on the new whistleblower provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act that she and other whistleblower employees would probably take their concerns to WikiLeaks rather than the Securities and Exchange Commission now.

Several top accounting firms made Fortune Magazine's recently released 2011 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

The Texas Society of CPAs executive board has adopted a resolution in support of the implementation of a new GAAP model for private companies.

The Small Business Administration announced the first six of a series of grants to Small Business Development Centers around the country to expand access to programs to help entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses and create jobs.

The Small Business Tax Credit Calculator, developed by Tax Credits LLC, is able to complete lines 1 to 14 of Form 8941 for tax preparers in all 50 states.

The Blue-Ribbon Panel on Standard Setting for Private Companies submitted a report Wednesday recommending that the Financial Accounting Foundation set up a separate board to determine private company accounting standards.