The American Institute of CPAs took the wraps off its redesigned Web site, AICPA.org, with new multimedia and social networking features.

FASB, IASB ISSUE PROGRESS REPORT ON CONVERGENCE

Consider this seemingly incontrovertible Feb. 24, 2010, assertion by American Institute of CPAs chief executive Barry Melancon: "Our increasingly global economy makes it clear that the U.S. should move toward a single set of high-quality, globally accepted accounting standards for public companies."

When the history of accounting in the U.S. is written, March 10, 2010, will go down as one of the key dates. While little noticed, a Financial Accounting Standards Board announcement portends perhaps the greatest change in GAAP since FASB itself was formed. The following quote from the FASB Web site hardly hinted at what was to come:

New York - A blue ribbon panel lookingto improve the accounting standards for private companies wants to find out why so many are not strictly complying with GAAP.

Check out the digital edition of the May 10-23, 2010 issue of Accounting Today by clicking here.

Nearly one-third of public companies have no plans to use Extensible Business Reporting Language technology for their financial filings, despite an SEC mandate requiring XBRL use by 2011.

New York - The International Auditing and AssuranceStandards Board has proposed a new assurance standard to address the process ofcompiling pro forma financial information included in prospectuses.

President Barack Obama has ordered the establishment of two interagency task forces on federal contracting opportunities for small businesses and for veterans small business development.

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy has promoted Ken Bishop to the job of chief operating officer.

A district court has granted a delay in the enforcement of the Federal Trade Commission’s Red Flags Rule governing identity theft prevention for members of the American Institute of CPAs in public practice.

A class-action lawsuit by former shareholders of Lehman Brothers has been amended to add the defunct investment bank’s auditing firm, Ernst & Young, as a defendant.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Inspector General found that at least 33 SEC employees and contractors used government computers to view pornographic images in the past five years.

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.