Regulatory actions and programs

The International Federation of Accountants is internationalizing its Web site and turning it into a veritable United Nations by translating key parts of it into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

A Securities and Exchange Commission advisory committee began meeting to consider ways to make financial reporting more understandable and relevant to investors.

Accounting firm Coulter & Justus has sold its Technology Solutions Group to Axis Integrated Solutions, a software reseller that works with Sage Software.

Two CPA firms on California's central coast have announced a merger: Bianchi, Lorincz, Huey, Hudson & Co. and Kasavan & Pope.

General Electric vice president and comptroller Phillip Ameen has joined the advisory board of BNA Tax and Accounting's Accounting Policy & Practice Series.

Grant Thornton CEO Edward E. Nusbaum has worked with the firm for 28 years, but since he took over the helm, the Chicago-based firm has more than doubled its revenue in the last four years, reaching $940 million in 2006.

This week marks the five-year anniversary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The legislation has proven to be a boon to many accountants and auditing firms, but a bane to many public companies.

Motive has dropped Ernst & Young as its independent auditing firm after its audit committee conducted an investigation into its own past accounting practices, helped by a law firm that hired PricewaterhouseCoopers.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox says small public companies should start getting ready to comply with the stricter auditing rules of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but left open the possibility of another deferral of the requirement.

Huron Consulting Group has acquired Callaway Partners for $60 million in cash to add Callaway's finance and accounting project management expertise to Huron's financial and consulting services.

Two-thirds of investors would be concerned about any easing of Sarbanes-Oxley rules, according to a national survey by the Center for Audit Quality, released in conjunction with the five-year anniversary of the legislation.

Three academics from the U.K. who have written a book about auditing, and a Virginia professor who has developed a taxation education curriculum, will receive awards from Deloitte & Touche’s not-for-profit Deloitte Foundation.

Carol Stacey, former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporate Finance, has become vice president of The SEC Institute, an organization that holds conferences and workshops around the country to explain SEC and PCAOB rules and regulations.

Accounting firm Lovoy, Summerville & Shelton has acquired Granberry & Associates, allowing the firm to expand its client base beyond its home town of Birmingham to Granberry's turf in the Auburn-Opelika area of Alabama.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released its report on its 2006 inspection of KPMG's auditing work, outlining a number of deficiencies.

Following on the heels of his former boss, Internal Revenue Service Acting Commissioner Kevin M. Brown plans to leave the IRS in mid-September to become chief operating officer of the American Red Cross.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the former chairman and CEO of Brooks Automation, Robert J. Therrien, with allegedly receiving over $10.4 million in undisclosed compensation by fraudulently backdating stock options.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's new internal control auditing standard, known as AS5, by a 5-0 vote.

Accounting firm J.H. Cohn LLP has combined its services with Marden, Harrison & Kreuter to build its presence in the New York area and expand its construction practice.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has proposed a new ethics rule on communicating with audit committees concerning independence.