Regulatory actions and programs

The Center for Audit Quality marked its first anniversary with a report on its progress in improving public confidence in the audit process.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed financial fraud charges against Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp., saying the health club chain's financial statements from at least 1997 to 2003 contained more than two dozen accounting improprieties.

Liquidity, access to capital and cash management are among the recession-related risks raising concerns on audit committees this year, according to a survey by KPMG.

Syspro and Centage have introduced a budgeting and forecasting software product aimed at small and midsized businesses.

Somerset CPAs said it plans to launch a consulting program to help CEOs cope with the economic downturn.

RedRover Software debuted RedRover Audit, a tool that uses human behavior research to audit Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.

The number of financial restatements fell last year for the first time since 2001, according to a new report.

PricewaterhouseCoopers plans to lay off part of the consulting staff in its advisory services business.

Two audit partners at Deloitte & Touche have agreed to be barred from practicing before the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve a case involving auto parts maker Delphi.

The Financial Accounting Foundation's board of trustees has voted to approve sweeping changes in the oversight, structure and operations of the Financial Accounting Foundation and its two standards-setting boards, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

Deloitte has teamed with the Institute of Internal Auditors on an educational alliance and curriculum for fighting fraud.

A 61 percent majority of chief financial officers at leading U.S. technology companies feel that shareholders should have a say on executive compensation plans, according to a new survey.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has proposed an auditing standard on engagement quality review and a conforming amendment to the board's interim quality control standards that will supersede the board's interim concurring partner review requirement.

Four former executives of re-insurer General Re and one former executive of insurer American International Group were convicted by a jury of fraud and conspiracy for manipulating financial statements.

I sat in on part of a meeting of the Financial Accounting Foundation and heard that many in Europe are taken aback at the swift pace of convergence in the U.S. with international accounting standards, but they are still waiting for us to set a deadline.

The International Accounting Standards Board said its Fair Value Measurement project team has begun a standard-by-standard review of existing fair value measurements in International Financial Reporting Standards to assess whether each standard's use of a fair value measurement basis was intended to be an exit price.

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In November, we devoted a column to the issues surrounding the new return preparer penalty standards under Internal Revenue Code Sec. 6694 enacted as part of the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007. Those changes focused on the expansion of coverage of Code Section 6694 to tax returns beyond income tax returns; an increase in the penalties imposed, including penalties based on 50 percent of fees derived from return preparation; and an increase in the disclosure standard required to avoid penalties to more likely than not (greater than 50 percent) from a realistic possibility of prevailing on the merits (greater than one third).

In January, the Mortgage Bankers Association, supported by five of the nation's largest lending institutions, asked the Financial Accounting Standards Board to relax certain accounting rules concerning how restructured -- that is, failed -- loans are written down.