Regulatory actions and programs

XBRL US has published the 2009 edition of the interactive data tags that the Securities and Exchange Commission will accept for coding financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Over the last several years, a substantial number of highly complex professional auditing and accounting standards have been issued by numerous standard-setters.

BRITISH ACCOUNTANTS URGE SEC TO ADOPT IFRS

Over a third of U.S. CPAs said they want to become more familiar with international accounting standards, but most of them don’t know how much the standards will cost their companies to implement.

NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer thinks accounting firms are charging small companies too much to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and suggested the SEC may pressure the firms to reduce their fees.

A report by Fitch Ratings calls into question the cost-effectiveness of the improvements in financial statement presentation proposed by FASB and its international counterpart.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board wants to know more about how government accountants in developing countries are using cash-basis reporting.

New accounting standards effective at the beginning of 2009 will impact the accounting for mergers and acquisitions.

Grant Thornton has sent a letter to federal officials proposing that banking regulators adjust capitalization requirements to take into account the broader economic environment.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board has proposed new guidance to deal with the wave of government takeovers of private businesses.

Two thirds of the 500 largest public companies are prepared to begin using interactive data-tagging technology to file their financial statements, according to a new survey.

Norwalk, Conn. - Governments have always found it difficult to properly report fund balances when the uses of various fund amounts were restricted in a number of ways. A dollar that couldn't be spent did not combine well with a dollar that could only be spent for a specific purpose, or a general fund dollar that could be spent without constraint.

Accounting firm leaders, standard-setters and industry accountants called for more certainty in the roadmap to International Financial Reporting Standards.

Less than half the CFOs polled in a recent survey by Grant Thornton were aware of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification project, which is set to become the authoritative source of U.S. GAAP on July 1.

The International Accounting Standards Board said that the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s recently issued guidance on fair value measurement is consistent with its existing guidance, but it still sees a need to revise its own controversial standards to account for the impairment of illiquid assets.

The Private Company Financial Reporting Committee has given the Financial Accounting Standards Board feedback on its financial statement presentation project, including worries about newly onerous processes.

Some 81 percent of chief financial officers and senior controllers polled in a national survey believe that the chief executive and chairman’s posts should be separate, while nearly three-quarters (74 percent) indicated that shareholders should have greater access to the proxy to nominate directors.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has written to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission urging the SEC to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards.

It's safe to say there hasn't been a time in recent history when small-business owners needed guidance from their accountants as much as they do now. It's becoming clear that for all their knowledge and energy, most entrepreneurs can't go it alone in these difficult times.

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