Regulatory actions and programs

An expert in global fraud protection, Frank Piantidosi has spent the past two decades on forensic investigations, uncovering illegal financial activity around the world.

The International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, the oversight body for the International Accounting Standards Board, has taken several steps to enhance its governance structure and allow more input from government securities regulators, as well as investors.

Intuit plans to bring a campaign to New York to encourage more people to open their own small businesses.

Internal auditors are finally starting to adapt to the post-SOX era and "rebalancing" some of their priorities as they return to more traditional audit functions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has released a staff accounting bulletin that revises and rescinds some of the rules for written loan commitments to make them more consistent with recent accounting rules.

Thomson Tax & Accounting released an online tax research service, QuickFinder Tax Manager, aimed at sole practitioners and small accounting firms.

Cash flow management is the major issue facing small business, according to a newly released survey.

Barry Melancon, president and chief executive of the American Institute of CPAs, and a number of other accounting profession luminaries such as Tim Flynn, chief executive at Big Four firm KPMG, have been named to the Treasury Department's new Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession.The 21-member group will spend roughly a year examining issues facing the auditing profession, including such front-burner topics as audit firm concentration, auditor liability caps, recruiting young people to the profession, the effect of Sarbanes-Oxley and the move toward international standards.

In medieval times, scores of religious contemplatives grappled with such esoterica as how many angels could fit on the head of a pin - comfortably or otherwise. Despite failing religious education for two consecutive years, I don't feel that a theology pedigree is a requirement to ascertain that they probably never reached a consensus on such matters.Fast-forwarding several hundred years, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson recently assembled what he hopes are the best minds to develop recommendations on more practical matters, such as how to sustain a "vibrant audit profession." The committee will spend one year wrestling with that equation, and along the way will tackle ancillary issues like audit firm concentration, audit quality, the process of recruiting and training accountants, auditor independence (not that again!), and the possibility of capping auditor liability in cases of corporate fraud. A 21-member committee, comprised of representatives from business, academic and regulatory circles, will carry out those ambitious marching orders. (For a full roster, see page 3.)

Like many others, we're interested in the work of the Securities and Exchange Commission's recently created advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting. Improvement is something that everybody likes, at least if it doesn't really change very much, and certainly not the important stuff. The committee has some outstanding members, as well as others we don't expect to come up with much new because they've had other, even better, platforms for initiating change but didn't get it done in the past.The chair is Robert Pozen, the non-executive chairman of MFR Investment Management, one of seven American subsidiaries of the Canadian Sun Life Financial group. On the one hand, his affiliation with a mutual fund company is promising because it might mean that Pozen thinks like a financial statement user. However, he is an attorney by training and has been a general counsel in the industry, but never an analyst. Indeed, his present position might make him think more like a statement preparer than a user. Only time will tell which perspective he will apply, although evidence suggests the former will prevail.

The American Institute of CPAs and the Small Business Administration have signed an agreement that will give CPAs more access to the SBA's programs and network of small businesses.

The Internal Revenue Service is sending out free copies of its CD-ROM, the Small Business Resource Guide, to help small business owners comply with federal tax laws, and it's ready to ship them in bulk.

Small and midsized companies are facing increased scrutiny from tax authorities both in the U.S. and in foreign jurisdictions to ensure that the transfer pricing of transactions among their subsidiaries is treated as if they were at arm's length - or what two unrelated parties would pay."Transfer pricing is something that a lot of small and medium-sized companies need to be paying attention to and thought they were under the radar in the past," said Meril Markley, a principal at UHY Advisors in Houston. "But because of FIN 48, they're really going to have to take a close look for the first time."

When the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council met in September to discuss the use of International Financial Reporting Standards, they found themselves answering questions with questions.FASAC, which advises the Financial Accounting Standards Board on a variety of issues, had been given the task of providing perspectives on where accounting and financial reporting might be going over the next two or three decades - with special consideration of the role of IFRS.

After a summer of discussions, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is expected to release as many as 10 documents by the end of the year or early in 2008.Susan Bielstein, FASB director of major projects and technical activities, said that the board had shown strong progress this year, especially with the completion of a business combination standard that it wrote jointly with the International Accounting Standards Board. It was the first joint standard the boards have produced, and it's expected to be released in mid-October. "It was a real milestone in the convergence process," Bielstein said.

The Internal Revenue Service has softened its opposition to contingent fees charged by Circular 230 practitioners. Originally, the IRS proposed permitting a contingent fee only in connection with an IRS examination or the challenge of an original return, or an amended return filed before a notice of examination was received.Under the final rules, a tax practitioner will be allowed to charge a contingent fee for services rendered in connection with the IRS examination of, or challenge to, an original return, or an amended return or claim for refund or credit where it was filed within 120 days of the taxpayer receiving a written notice of the examination, or a written challenge to the original return.

A survey of senior financial executives found that their companies are implementing ethics policies, but that the stewardship of those policies is often in doubt.

Dell filed its past-due financial reports from fiscal 2003 through 2006 and the first quarter of fiscal 2007, while shedding light on some of the accounting missteps that led to its financial restatements and delays.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has named a slate of new appointments and reappointments to its Standing Advisory Group for 2008.

Office Depot said it would delay the release of its third-quarter earnings because of an issue involving the recognition of vendor program funds.