Regulatory actions and programs

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is angling to improve quality control over corporate audits by encouraging accountants to blow the whistle on financial reporting violations by their audit clients and by their own firms.

Internal Revenue Service enforcement activities brought in a record $43.1 billion in fiscal 2004, up 15 percent, or $5.5 billion, over 2003, the agency reported.

French technology consulting and outsourcing giant Cap Gemini refuted a report that it is mulling the sale of its North American business.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has barred Enron North America's former chief accounting officer from practicing before it for four years.

As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission this week postponed for a year the final phase-in period for rules that would shorten the amount of time that larger companies, known as "accelerated filers," have to file their quarterly and annual reports.

Executive compensation and internal audit compliance issues rank as the top concerns of corporate directors, according to a survey by the Columbia Business School Executive Education Division.

Officials at the Public Company Oversight Board unveiled an aggressive agenda for the coming year that may result in as many as 11 new standards for auditors in areas ranging from corporate fraud detection and reporting to wrestling with related-party transactions.

Fannie Mae said that it won't file its third quarter earnings report with the Securities and Exchange Commission by the end of this week because its independent auditor, KPMG, wouldn't sign off on its financials until issues related to the SEC's investigation into the company's accounting are resolved.

As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission this week postponed for a year the final phase-in period for rules that would shorten the amount of time that larger companies, known as "accelerated filers," have to file their quarterly and annual reports.

As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission this week postponed for a year the final phase-in period for rules that would shorten the amount of time that larger companies, known as "accelerated filers," have to file their quarterly and annual reports.

As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission this week postponed for a year the final phase-in period for rules that would shorten the amount of time that larger companies, known as "accelerated filers," have to file their quarterly and annual reports.

Annual Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs averaged $16 million -- a jump of 77 percent from last year, according to a survey of corporate boards by RHR International and Directorship.

So much for a one-time project: Companies will spend an estimated $5.8 billion on meeting Sarbanes-Oxley Act requirements in 2005, with more than a third planning to increase SOX spending next year, according to AMR Research.

Corporate governance software and services provider Axena Inc. has expanded into Europe.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is reaching out to smaller accounting firms and small public companies with a new initiative to provide information about the board's inspections process and the impact of new auditing standards.

Compliance software provider Axentis has named Ken Sexton as its chairman and chief executive.

Smaller companies could get a reprieve from the Securities and Exchange Commission on filing internal control documentation, according to published reports.

The Council of the International Federation of Accountants, a group that sets international standards on ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting, has named PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Graham Ward, CBE, MA, FCA, as its new president for a two-year term.

It seems everyone, from audit committee chairs to chief financial officers, is feeling the pressure of Sarbanes-Oxley. The result, according to a study of audit firm performance, is low accounting firm performance levels compared to other business-to-business studies and a decline in the confidence level of the accounting profession, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

Sarbanes-Oxley regulations have left many public company executives confused about what can and cannot be discussed with their auditors, according to Marjorie Bailey, an officer of San Francisco-based CPA firm Stonefield Josephson.