Regulatory actions and programs

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named James Schnurr, a former vice chairman at Deloitte, as chief accountant.

A post-implementation review of an accounting standard for state and local governments on the impairment of capital assets and insurance recoveries found that it provides important information to users, but does not resolve all the issues it was meant to address.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is bringing charges against a telecommunications equipment maker and two of its former executives for improperly recognizing as revenue over a million dollars’ worth of inventory.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released for public comment a staff consultant paper on standard-setting related to auditing accounting estimates and fair value measurements.

A post-implementation review conducted by the Financial Accounting Foundation of a 2004 accounting standard on share-based payment transaction said that it achieved its purpose and provides useful information to financial statement users.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was fined $25 million after sanitizing a report to regulators on sanctions and money-laundering controls for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., New York’s top bank regulator said today.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., after announcing an average of two acquisitions a month this year, is learning the importance of doing your homework.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged an accounting firm partner in Atlanta with insider trading in the stock of a client’s restaurant company while tipping off other clients, and he agreed to pay over $124,000 to settle the charges.

Is the time now right to use a financial reporting language that transcends national boundaries? This question continues to cause division in some countries, particularly in the United States.

In addition to overseeing the daily operation of their business, small business owners rely on accountants to provide guidance on how to comply with changing rules, regulations and laws on the state and federal level.

XBRL US, a nonprofit organization that helps develop Extensible Business Reporting Language data tags in the U.S., is offering free data quality tools to help companies improve their XBRL financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and avoid "Dear CFO" letters.

A roundup of recent audit & attest news

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against the CEO and former CFO of a Florida-based computer equipment company for misrepresenting to external auditors and the investing public the state of its internal controls over financial reporting.

A bill requiring government agencies to disclose how much companies would be able to claim in tax credits and other benefits when they reach settlements with enforcement agencies has passed a key committee.

The Big Four accounting firms are reportedly rebuilding their legal service practices, after abandoning much of that area over a decade ago in response to Sarbanes-Oxley restrictions.

Financial restatements declined substantially in the decade after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, according to a new academic study.

On the same day that the Securities and Exchange Commission issued long-awaited rules for money market mutual funds, the Internal Revenue Service has issued its own rules for money market funds and wash sales.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has entered into a cooperative arrangement with the Danish Business Authority for the oversight of audit firms in both regulators’ jurisdictions.

Ernst & Young has agreed to pay $4 million to settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing the firm of violating auditor independence rules by lobbying congressional staff on behalf of two auditing clients.

The majority of attendees at a roundtable discussion Thursday in Washington, D.C., on enhancing the ethics standards for accountants favored changes by the International Ethics Standards Board of Accountants to permit reporting of illegal acts.