Regulatory actions and programs

NASD, the regulator for the brokerage industry, said that fines as a result of disciplinary actions it meted out have risen 21 percent, to $125.4 million versus the prior year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed more than a dozen current and former Delphi executives to testify about improper accounting at the bankrupt auto supplier, according to published reports.

Regulators are considering liquidating a unit of brokerage firm Refco Inc. that isn't under bankruptcy-court protection.

Timothy P. Flynn, chairman and chief executive of Big Four firm KPMG, has been appointed to the board of the Financial Accounting Foundation.

Lawrence A. West, associate director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement, will depart the regulator to become a partner at the Washington office of Latham & Watkins.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, the standard-setting body of the International Federation of Accountants, is seeking a chairperson for a three-year term beginning in January 2007.

Joseph Nacchio, the former chief executive of Qwest Communications during the telecommunications company's multibillion-dollar accounting scandal, was indicted on 42 counts of insider trading for allegedly illegally selling more than $100 million in stock.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox recently met with representatives of the accounting and financial reporting software industry to express support for integrating interactive data capabilities into existing accounting and financial reporting software.

A CPA with radio personality Howard Stern's accounting firm has settled insider trading charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The accounting support fees imposed on corporations by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will be slashed by nearly 20 percent next year, under the organization's recently released 2006 operating budget.In announcing the new budget plan for the coming year, PCAOB officials said that the board will charge publicly traded companies a total of $109.3 million in accounting support fees during 2006 - down from the $136.1 million assessed in 2005.

FIRST VIRTUAL DISMISSES PWC: Video software concern First Virtual Communications Inc. dismissed auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers and subsequently engaged Squar Milner Reehl & Williamson as its new independent accountant.In January, First Virtual filed for Chapter 11 protection. In August, the company filed a liquidation plan that proposed a reverse merger, whereby First Virtual Communications would acquire the assets of newly formed U.S. Dry Cleaning and change its name to U.S. Dry Cleaning Corp.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced it has selected deputy chief auditor and former KPMG partner Thomas Ray as its chief auditor.

Until now, individual taxpayers who were unable to meet the April 15 tax return filing deadline could file a Form 4868 and receive an automatic four-month filing extension until August 15. And if August 15 didn't provide enough time to get the tax return completed, taxpayers could provide a good reason for the delay on a Form 2688 and request another extension for two months until October 15.Effective for tax returns due after Jan. 1, 2006, the kinder, gentler, more cost-effective Internal Revenue Service has done away with the second extension request and changed the initial automatic extension period from four months to six. Not only will this action remove the need for taxpayers to come up with a reason for requesting the extra two months to file tax returns, it will cut back on lots of paperwork and processing time.

Public companies, for better or worse, have completed the first year of compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Now is a good time for CPAs in industry and their external auditors to reflect on the Year One experience, identify lessons learned, and change their compliance strategies accordingly.For example, many companies only cleared the Year One Sarbanes-Oxley hurdle via an "all hands on deck" approach. Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, however, is not a one-time event; it is an ongoing requirement. So this tack is too disruptive to be allowed to continue.

One of the many things that make investors sweat is the state of corporate pensions and other post-retirement benefit plans. How well are they funded? Are there enough assets available in the plan, or must the employer satisfy obligations?Investors aren't the only ones who sweat. Employees and retirees are also concerned. Their futures hang on the numbers, and the numbers can get pretty big, especially the red ones - possibly $600 billion in all, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Blaming a computer for accounting errors, mortgage financier Freddie Mac announced that it has cut about $220 million in profits from its statements for the first half of 2005. Freddie said that it earned $1.4 billion in the first six months of 2005, not the $1.6 billion it reported on Aug. 31.The company said that the difference "reflects the correction of interest accruals recorded for certain mortgage-related securities stemming from miscalculations since 2001 in a legacy computer system." The company also pointed out that the amended profit represents less than 1 percent of its core capital as of June 30.

Diane M. Rubin, a partner at San Francisco-based Novogradac & Co. LLP, was recently installed as chairwoman of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy for 2005-06.The election was held on Nov. 1 at NASBA's 98th Annual Meeting in Tucson, Ariz.

The Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously voted to propose rules to make it easier for foreign companies to stop listing their securities for trading in the country in order to avoid the expense of complying with U.S. securities laws.

Taser International Inc. said that the Securities and Exchange Commission has ended an investigation into the stun gun maker's accounting and recommended that no action be taken against the company.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox delivered an easier-said-than-done speech earlier this month on the need to simplify accounting rules.