Regulatory actions and programs

The European Commission reached a provisional agreement Tuesday with the European Parliament and the member states of the European Union on reforming the audit firm market in Europe, requiring public companies in the E.U. to rotate their auditing firms every 10 to 24 years, avoid non-audit services for the same clients, and prohibit Big Four-only clauses.

As 2013 recedes in the rearview mirror, it is understandable that tax professionals look to the road ahead regarding taxes and Washington.

Even though the IRS has made improvements in information security, there are still weak spots in its in system access controls, audit trails, and remediation of security flaws, according to a new report.

While the flow of high-quality information is critical to the functioning of capital markets, many are coming to see the independent audits that vouch for that information as irrelevant, according to PCAOB Chairman James Doty.

Audit firms may not be appropriately executing engagement quality review, according to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

The House Small Business Committee held a hearing to determine whether businesses are considered single or multiple entities under the health care reform law, and the compliance ramification for multi-owner business ownership.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has proposed for a second time the idea of requiring auditor reports to disclose the names of the lead partner on an audit engagement and some of the other individuals and firms who participated in audits of public companies, brokers and dealers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Fifth Third Bank’s holding company, Fifth Third Bancorp, on Wednesday and its former chief financial officer, with improper accounting of commercial real estate loans during the financial crisis.

FASB Chairman Russell Golden looks at what's to come

Three short takes: IASB vs. EU; M. Prada stumbles, and GAAP reporting as perjury

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board plans to hold a meeting next Wednesday to discuss re-proposing a requirement for auditing firms to disclose in the auditor’s report the names of the engagement partner and certain other participants in the audit.

Not only are the requirements of the Affordable Care Act difficult and complicated for businesses to understand, but in many cases those aspects that businesses and their advisors think they understand are already slated to change in the future, according to one expert.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board approved a 2014 fiscal-year budget of approximately $258.4 million, a 5 percent increase over this past year, and a 2013-2017 strategic plan that includes a greater focus on accounting firms’ burgeoning consulting practices.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board made public on Friday some previously confidential parts of its 2009 inspection report on Deloitte & Touche LLP after the firm failed to completely address several quality control issues that the PCAOB had identified within a year.

The Financial Accounting Foundation’s Board of Trustees, who oversee the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board, has adopted a new policy clarifying the characteristics of the information that GASB can incorporate into the financial accounting and reporting concepts, standards, and guidance that it issues for state and local governments.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board posted settled disciplinary orders Friday involving three auditing firms and three people associated with them, charging them with violating the federal securities laws in addition to PCAOB auditing standards and rules in the audits of 10 public companies.

Online payroll provider SurePayroll Inc. has found the government shutdown had a significant impact on businesses with 10 or less employees, causing them to rethink expectations for the future and question their leaders.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are expanding their efforts to deter accounting fraud, reaching out to academics, practitioners and others to find ways to better detect accounting fraud.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has added a page to its Web site to provide information to audit firms where quality control problems have been found.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has released a new online toolkit to help preparers and auditors of state and local government pension plans implement new accounting and financial reporting standards.