Regulatory actions and programs

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a proposed FASB Staff Position on the endowments of nonprofit organizations that could have large implications for how they recognize their assets and use donor-restricted funds.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to adopt Auditing Standard No. 6, Evaluating Consistency of Financial Statements, and an accompanying set of amendments to its interim auditing standards.

Small companies in the United States have long complained that it's unfair in terms of costs and time that they're required to meet accounting standards that were written for companies that are many times their size.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued final guidance on transfers of financial assets and repurchase financing, which should have an impact on the mortgage and real estate investment trust industry.

CCH has introduced Knowledge-Based Audits of Governmental Entities, a module in its CCH Accounting Research Manager series that helps professionals comply with risk assessment standards.

CPAs who are also senior financial executives expressed pessimism in the U.S. economy and expectations of continuing declines, according to a new survey by the American Institute of CPAs.

Since taking over management of the Institute of Management Accountants in January 2004, Paul A. Sharman has established an entirely new direction for the association.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has introduced Financial Explorer, a tool that shows corporate financial performance using interactive data in Extensible Business Reporting Language.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting has released a progress report on its work to date.

The Canadian Accounting Standards Board has confirmed that use of International Financial Reporting Standards will be required in 2011 for publicly held profit-oriented companies.

Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., has written letters to the heads of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board asking how to improve the transparency of the types of assets linked to subprime mortgages.

Intuit has released a report on the future of small business, predicting that artisans will re-emerge as an influential force in the coming decade, using technology and globalization to help them expand.

The House Committee on Small Business held a hearing on business activity taxes and their impact on small businesses.

XBRL US named Alfred R. Berkeley as the new chairman who will lead the board in 2008.

KPMG is holding a five-week competition among auditing students from more than 27 colleges and universities around the country.

A former PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor has settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission over his audits of video game developer Take-Two Interactive Software.

Catapult Communications Corporation recently announced that it is changing accounting firms. What was intriguing about the press release was the detailed reason given for changing from a Big Four to a regional firm. It made the change “to significantly reduce its accounting expenses.”

An appeals court has overruled $300,000 in penalties levied against accounting firm Grant Thornton in a case involving the firm's audit of the First National Bank of Keystone.

A study of internal auditors around the world has uncovered similarities and sharp differences within the profession.

One dirty little secret of financial reporting is off-balance-sheet financing.