A measure approved last week by the House Financial Services Committee to change Sarbanes-Oxley audit rules would lead to a higher incidence of fraud and an increase in the amount of fraud losses, said the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

The American Institute of CPAs and Financial Executives International have written to Congress to express their objections to proposed legislation that would displace the SEC from its role of overseeing the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

The International Accounting Standards Board has proposed new standards for measuring the impairment of financial instruments and assets using amortized cost, taking a different tack than the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board.

The House Financial Services Committee voted to exempt small and midsized public companies from Sarbanes-Oxley audit requirements.

The Center for Audit Quality and other influential organizations are asking leaders of the House Financial Services Committee to safeguard the role of the SEC in overseeing the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

The International Accounting Standards Board has issued a revised version of its standard for related-party transactions, simplifying the disclosure requirements and clarifying the definition of a related party.

Financial planning trade groups have written a letter to congressional leaders protesting an amendment that would extend the regulatory authority of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to cover investment advisers who are associated with broker-dealers under FINRA authority.

The International Federation of Accountants has released a new online chart showing the growing adoption of International Standards on Auditing.

The Federal Trade Commission has once again extended the deadline for enforcing the so-called “Red Flags Rule” that requires financial institutions and creditors to develop identity theft prevention programs.

Washington, D.C.-The Securities and Exchange Commission has again delayed the deadline for small public companies to begin providing an audited assessment of internal controls over financial reporting, but said that this will be the last time.

The creation of a super agency to regulate banks is a beguilingly simple idea. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, recently sent up a trial balloon, giving the idea new life.

Washington, D.C. - Americans may be in for shocking news soon. Under a new standard issued by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, the federal government is going to have to issue annual reports on its fiscal sustainability.

What seems like a lifetime ago, I was sitting in 7th grade math class - come to think of it, that was a lifetime ago - being lectured by Mrs. Kennedy on the U.S.'s inevitable conversion to the metric system. Mrs. Kennedy was ruddy-faced, rail-thin and hailed from County Mayo, Ireland. She had a penchant for white-framed cat's-eye glasses and, when angered, was able to reach a decibel level that could mute a heavy metal concert. She augmented the regular curricula with a focus on metric problems and conversion exercises, and by the end of the year, we were able to map out car trips in kilometers and judge the results of encroaching puberty in kilograms and centimeters.

The House overwhelmingly approved legislation to reform small business lending and spur job creation.

SEC Chief Accountant Jim Kroeker said the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board should proceed with their efforts to converge U.S. and international accounting standards, even though the SEC commissioners have not yet formally approved the proposed roadmap to International Financial Reporting Standards.

IMGCAP(1)]The creation of a super agency to regulate banks is a beguilinglysimple idea. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the SenateBanking Committee, recently sent up a trial balloon, giving the ideanew life.

The International Accounting Standards Board and its U.S. counterpart, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, plan to meet on a monthly basis in order to achieve the goal of converging accounting standards by June 2011.

Seventy-one percent of U.S. CFOs and senior comptrollers surveyed by Grant Thornton believe that the Financial Accounting Standards Board should set U.S. accounting standards, instead of the International Accounting Standards Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission or Congress.