Regulatory actions and programs

The banking and insurance industries have been playing arbitrage with the various accounting standards produced by U.S. and international standard-setters.

An organization representing major life and property/casualty insurance and reinsurance companies has criticized a new measurement approach for insurance contracts recommended by the staff of the International Accounting Standards Board.

IMGCAP(1)]On September 4, the President took another important step toward a more open and transparent government by announcing a new policy to voluntarily disclose White House visitor access records.

SEC officials testifying at a Senate Banking Committee hearing pledged to do more to investigate Ponzi schemes.

The American Bankers Association has written to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke asking them to raise accounting issues at the upcoming G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh in order to curb efforts by standard-setters to expand mark-to-market accounting to loans and debt instruments.

The International Accounting Standards Board’s oversight body has proposed a series of changes aimed at providing better governance of the standard-setter, including renaming the organization the International Financial Reporting Standards Board.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has published implementation guidance on accounting for uncertainty in income taxes and disclosure amendments for nonpublic entities.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has introduced an online training course to help more small businesses get federal contracts.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board member Charles Niemeier said he plans to leave the board in the near future.

The Financial Planning Association is urging SEC Chair Mary Schapiro to clarify and restrict the scope of authority of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority related to financial planning services.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a set of proposed changes to fair value measurement rules that would require companies to provide more information about illiquid assets.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, an influential group of international banking regulators, has released a set of guiding principles to help the International Accounting Standards Board set new standards for financial instruments to deal with the aftermath of the financial crisis.

The major federal banking regulatory agencies are asking for comments on a proposed rule for banks’ minimal capital requirements, stemming from two accounting standards that would change how banks will account next year for many items they currently keep off their balance sheets.

Sarbanes-Oxley was the U.S. government’s response to a decade of financial statement frauds that shook the financial community.

A House subcommittee heard from a panel of small business owners concerned about the disappearance of popular tax deductions at a hearing in Tulsa, Okla., during the congressional recess.

The International Accounting Standards Board has published a set of proposed amendments to 11 International Financial Reporting Standards as part of its annual improvements project.

The extension of Ben Bernanke’s term as Federal Reserve chairman shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, except to those who were hoping for better management of the economy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed James L. Kroeker as chief accountant.

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IMGCAP(1)]Richard Chambers has been reorganizing and consolidating the Institute of Internal Auditors ever since he returned in January after a five-year stint at PricewaterhouseCoopers.