Regulatory actions and programs

Corporate executives are still manipulating stock options, say researchers at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Japan Financial Services Agency announced terms for increased cooperation and collaboration.

PWC RESIGNS AS ALLIANCE AUDITOR: Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers resigned as accountant to Alliance Semiconductor Corp. At presstime, a replacement had not been named. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Alliance, a provider of analog and mixed-signal and chip-to-chip connectivity products, networking controllers and high-performance memories, reported no disagreements with its former auditor. However, PwC said that its accounting staff lacked skill and depth with relation to applying generally accepted accounting principles, and added that Alliance has ineffective controls over inventory and the accounting for an equity-method investment.AEHR ENGAGES BURR, PILGER & MAYER: Aehr Test Systems, a Fremont, Calif.-based manufacturer and developer of test equipment for the semiconductor industry, retained the firm of Burr, Pilger & Mayer as its new auditor, replacing PwC. PwC's reports on the company's financial statements for the years ended May 31, 2005 and 2004, did not contain an adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion, and were not qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope or accounting principle.

It's hard to believe 10 years and 220 columns (without missing a deadline) have passed since the debut of The Spirit of Accounting, but that is indeed so.Born out of a collaboration between Ed Ketz of Penn State University and Paul Miller of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, it has brought issues to the attention of a wide range of accounting professionals, from neophytes still in college up to those in corner suites in corporations, public accounting firms, professional associations and regulatory agencies.

Tax law changes, a surge in business e-filing, and a move by practitioners toward greater use of the Internet will impact the type of filing season that tax preparers have this year."It will be typical year in terms of filing," observed John Hewitt, chief executive officer of Virginia Beach, Va.-based Liberty Tax Service. "About a million-and-a-half to two million more people will file returns than last year."

The Internal Revenue Service was singled out by congressional auditors for slow-footed implementation of federal accounting rules requiring government agencies to implement effective management reporting for cost information.In a report to the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance and Accountability, investigators at the Government Accountability Office concluded that, overall, the federal bureaucracy is doing only a mediocre job in complying with government accounting standards that call for the development and implementation of managerial cost accounting.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has published a Guide to Implementation of GASB Statement 44 on the Statistical Section.The guide was prepared to assist preparers and auditors of governmental financial statements as they implement the updated and expanded statistical section. The statistical section is the part of a state or local government's comprehensive annual financial report that presents trend information for the last 10 years about a government's financial results, major revenue sources, outstanding debt, economic and demographic indicators, and operating activities.

Although tax experts from across the spectrum predict that a real tax reform is in our future, they are divided on how soon it will happen or what form it will take.Mark Weinberger, former Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy, said during a recent Tax Analysts-sponsored Webcast that tax reform will eventually happen. However, said Weinberger, currently Americas vice chair for tax services for Ernst & Young, the structure and timing are still up in the air.

Congress, in the waning days of its 2005 session, after failing to carry out significant parts of its tax agenda for the year, has managed to pass a Gulf Coast recovery tax act. As is common with the "last stagecoach out of town" for the year, a lot of things managed to "jump on."The hurricane provisions take up 84 pages of bill text, but the legislation goes on for another 100 pages. Among the areas addressed beyond hurricane recovery and relief are a few extensions of expiring provisions, a couple of miscellaneous items, and a huge package of technical corrections covering 10 pieces of tax legislation going back as far as 1987.

Factors such as changes to estate tax laws and the initial wave of retirement for the Baby Boomers will bring a year of significant change for financial advisors and their clients.According to a survey conducted by Impact Technologies Group Inc., a provider of financial sales software for the banking, capital markets and insurance industries, its annual industry trends forecast for 2006 predicted that action by the federal government to change the tax code and reform or repeal the estate tax will have the most impact on how advisors handle their clients' financial plans.

United Rentals, the world's largest equipment rental company, said that it removed three financial officers and fired two other employees after hearing a report from a special committee confirming accounting irregularities within the company.

Cardinal Health Inc., a manufacturer of medical supplies, has reached a tentative settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to end a two-year investigation into the company's accounting practices.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a proposal that would provide companies with the option to report financial assets and liabilities at fair value.

Speaking at the at the Financial Service Institute's 2006 Broker-Dealer Conference in San Diego, Securities and Exchange Commissioner Cynthia Glassman said that brokerages were the focus of more investor complaints to the SEC in the 2005 fiscal year than any other type of business.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's report on the auditing profession is equal parts suggestions for legislative protections and doomsday suppositions for the industry.

A white paper from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says that the auditing industry is "severely contracted' and could eventually lead to complete erosion of public confidence in the market.

The inspection division of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said that there's room for improvement in how the young agency conducts its inspections of auditing firms.

The American Institute of CPAs' Auditing Standards Board has reissued its exposure draft containing a proposed statement on standards for attestation engagements.

Without providing details, a lawyer for former Qwest finance chief Robin Szeliga said that her deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission had collapsed.

Barry Goldsmith, the enforcement chief of brokerage regulator NASD, will step down in March to return to private law practice, and his deputy was named as his acting replacement.