Regulatory actions and 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.

Forty percent of U.S. CFOs and senior comptrollers polled by Grant Thornton said they do not believe U.S. companies should be required to use International Financial Reporting Standards.

The Private Company Financial Reporting Committee met to discuss the impact of recent changes in accounting standards on private companies, including some confusion in the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s new Codification updates.

Worried that corporate auditors are being duped by widespread related-party transaction frauds, officials at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are considering new standards establishing stiffer and more specific requirements for accountants who encounter these arrangements.

The California Society of CPAs is offering a special CPA Activate Pass to help inactive CPAs regain active status.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has established a Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee to offer input to the board on guidance, current and future technical projects, and longer-term issues affecting nonprofits.

President Barack Obama has announced a set of initiatives aimed at kick-starting the market for small-business loans.

International Accounting Standards Board chairman Sir David Tweedie said he won’t wait for the board’s U.S. counterpart to finalize its own revisions to fair value accounting for financial instruments.

As the SEC resurrects its focus on the roadmap to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards, the 30-plus year debate over a GAAP for private companies has progressed somewhat but remains on the back burner amidst legislative and standard-setters’ priorities for global convergence

The House Financial Services Committee has approved legislation that would require regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market.

A trade group representing insurance and reinsurance companies has taken exception to a proposed standard on fair value accounting and said it will make financial statements harder to understand.

Current Grant Thornton CEO Ed Nusbaum and incoming CEO Stephen Chipman talked about the Supreme Court’s upcoming hearing of a challenge to the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.