Regulatory actions and programs

Public companies working on national defense or national security issues can now get an exemption from the reporting requirements governed by the Securities and Exchange Commission from the director of national intelligence.

On the heels of yet another in-depth report, this one delivered by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the top executive at home mortgage behemoth Fannie Mae said that his is a changed company.

Fannie Mae will pay $400 million to put an end to the accounting woes that have dogged the home mortgage giant since 2004.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will propose rules for annual and special reporting of information and events by accounting firms that are registered with the board.

Four months after offering new incentives for companies to furnish their financial information in computer-readable interactive data format, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that another trio of firms has joined the fun.

The International Federation of Accountants has issued its 2005 annual report, highlighting the update of its code of ethics, as well as the formal establishment of the Public Interest Oversight Board.

President Bush has nominated Republican Kathleen Casey, currently serving as staff director for the Senate Banking Committee, to replace Cynthia Glassman at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the accounting profession must stand strong in advocating for more transparent financial disclosure and serve as a model for the rest of the world

Less than six months into the job, t he International Accounting Standards Board chairman has stepped down to take the position of Italian finance minister.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board filed a motion to dismiss a constitutional challenge to its legality this week based on a number of procedural points.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced a series of actions to improve implementation of the Section 404 internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced a four-point plan to improve auditors' implementation of the internal control reporting provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Thomas J. Linsmeier, the chairman of the accounting department at Michigan State University, was named a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board this week.

I have dealt with many tax acts in the 30-plus years that I have been in professional publishing. When I worked at a tax publisher, I know tax legislation meant an awful lot of work. In one way or another, I would be involved in assembling the Code-as-amended, analyzing the effective dates, excerpting legislative committee reports, and writing or reviewing analyses. Besides the work, the legislation would almost always seemed to come down at a bad time, usually at the end of the year as Congress was about to adjourn. It was a real pain.

Securities and Exchange commissioner Cynthia Glassman announced that she will not seek reappointment to the five-member panel when her term expires this summer.

CAL-BAY DISMISSES ARGY & CO.: Tustin, Calif.-based Cal-Bay International Inc. said that it dismissed its auditor, Argy & Co., and has named Lawrence Scharfman & Co. as its new independent accountant.The operator of environmental service units that sell and distribute environment and process control products in California, Nevada and Hawaii said that Argy & Co. had expressed doubts about the company's ability to continue as a going concern in its reports for the years ended Dec. 31, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2004.

The Institute of Internal Auditors has formally recommended that the requirement for an external auditor to attest to a company's internal controls be removed under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

An independent report, backed by data from Big Four clients, shows that corporate auditing costs for Sarbanes-Oxley 404 compliance dropped significantly in 2005.

Online tax preparation services are using the Internal Revenue Service's Free File program to promote "get rich quick" schemes and overpriced refund anticipation loans to low-income taxpayers, some lawmakers have charged.In a sharply worded letter to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, placed much of the blame for these practices on the IRS officials who negotiated a new contract with 20 online tax prep companies to provide taxpayers with free electronic tax preparation and filing services during this tax season.

Make no mistake about it: The Institute of Management Accountants supports the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It has even said that the legislation was long overdue.But that doesn't mean that the IMA thinks SOX is working.