Regulatory actions and programs

An advisory panel to the Securities and Exchange Commission may officially asked the agency to exempt businesses with less than $125 million in revenues from the internal control provisions laid out in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

A new survey says that public companies will not spend nearly as much in 2005 as in 2004 to assess internal controls over financial reports.

Speaking to an American Institute of CPAs conference, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox suggested that accounting rules need to be simplified in order to ensure that financial irregularities aren't hidden.

Foundation Software, a national developer of construction accounting systems, will unveil a new CPA Audit/Review Module at the AICPA Construction Conference next week.

AMR Research estimates that companies will spend $6 billion on complying with Sarbanes-Oxley Act requirements in 2006, close to the $6.1 billion they will spend in 2005.

Former Congressman Bill Gradison has been named acting chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Ameriprise Financial -- the entity spun off by former parent American Express -- and its broker-dealer arm agreed to pay $57.3 million to settle charges of illegal trading and brokerage misconduct.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued a report saying that while the initial implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley and, specifically, Section 404, has not been without its challenges, the board is confident the process will be easier in the future.

Investors punish firms that disclose internal control weakness as required by Sarbanes-Oxley provisions, but having a Big Four auditor mitigates the negative price hit, according to new research out of Indiana University.

The European Commission said that it might delay accepting U.S. accounting standards as being equivalent to those used in the European Union.

The Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously voted to request public comment on rules that will allow companies to use the Internet to satisfy proxy material delivery requirements.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers has requested the dismissal of a mult-million-dollar claim filed following the bankruptcy of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities.

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.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. has again put off filing financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Giovanni Prezioso, general counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said he would leave the regulator to return to a post in the private sector.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Grant Thornton International, along with Bank of America, have been named as defendants in two lawsuits seeking almost $1 billion for a trio of Cayman Islands companies.

After opposition from business and the accounting profession, the International Accounting Standards Board has shelved its plans to fast-track changes to its technical corrections policy.

* FIELDSTONE JETTISONS KPMG: Fieldstone Investment Corp. has dismissed KPMG as its auditor and named Big Four rival Deloitte as its replacement.Fieldstone, a Columbia, Md.-based residential mortgage banking concern, reported no unresolved accounting disagreement with KPMG for its two most recent fiscal years.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board approved its budget for 2006, which will also allow for a reduction in the support fees paid by publicly traded companies.

Yet another piece in the jigsaw of legislation controlling corporate governance, accountancy and auditing, aimed at boosting investor confidence in European Union business, is coming into focus as upgrades are being considered to the 4th and 7th Directives on risk management and internal control for unlisted companies.Those enhancements cover both off-balance-sheet arrangements and company transactions with related parties such as family members.