XBRL US and the Financial Accounting Foundation have inked a three-year agreement to conduct joint research on further developing interactive data tags for financial statements.

The Center for Audit Quality, the CFA Institute, and the Council of Institutional Investors have written to leaders of the Senate Banking Committee asking them not to exempt smaller public companies from Sarbanes-Oxley internal controls audit requirements in the financial regulatory reform legislation.

The American Institute of CPAs is keeping a close watch on financial reform legislation as the Senate is expected to begin debate on the bill within the next week.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun mailing postcards to more than 4 million small businesses and tax-exempt organizations to make them aware of the benefits of the recently enacted small business health care tax credit.

President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force has introduced a new Web site to educate Americans about how to protect themselves from fraud and report instances of fraud.

Americans seem to hold a generally favorable view of accountants, according to a new survey.

New York-The blue ribbon panel formed in December to address the 30-year-old debate over whether to issue a separate set of reporting standards for private companies is set to address a number of key issues that hopefully will move the protracted discussion to the next level.

SEC APPROVES PCAOB FOREIGN INSPECTION DELAY

International Accounting Standards Board Chairman Sir David Tweedie told a group of European finance officials that the IASB and the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board are on track to converge their standards by June 2011, after which there will be a period of stability in accounting standards.

In a classic episode of The Bob Newhart Show, Bob and his wife Emily have mapped out a three-month cruise around the globe when Bob begins to have second thoughts: "I'm not saying we're going," he mutters to his now-seething bride. "But then again, I'm not saying we're not going."

Our most recent column ("To the SEC: Forget the timetable and stop the runaway train," March 15-April 18) reported that the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are racing to complete a long list of major projects. We warned that this dash will produce less than the best standards, and promised to describe some specifics, leases in particular.

I would beg to differ with your opening supposition this month ("Firms jogging, not sprinting to IFRS," Feb. 15-March 14, 2010), in which you stated that, "U.S. firms and practitioners have accepted the when, not if, scenario, regarding IFRS convergence."

IMGCAP(1)]Since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Auditing Standard No. 5 were issued, momentum continues to shift towards continuous monitoring or automation solutions.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have published a report detailing their progress to date on achieving convergence of U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards.

The kickoff meeting of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Standard Setting for Private Companies showed there isn’t a lot of agreement among privately held companies and their accountants on exactly what constitutes generally accepted accounting principles.

Check out the digital edition of the April 19-May 9, 2010 issue of Accounting Today by clicking here.

IMGCAP(1)]While Congress and accountants continue to fight the Sarbanes-Oxley 404 requirements for small filers on what seems like an annual basis, those in the private sector continue to deploy SOX-related policies and procedures as best practices. This trend will continue as the cost of compliance becomes more efficient.

A “blue ribbon panel” looking to improve the accounting standards for private companies wants to find out why so many are not strictly complying with GAAP.

The International Federation of Accountants plans to enhance the international education standards for accountants over the next two years to make financial reporting more reliable.

The American Institute of CPAs is encouraging more CPA firms and college professors to teach forensic accountants the skills they need to ferret out financial chicanery.