Regulatory actions and programs

Small business owners ranks Idaho and Texas as the most business-friendly states, with Oklahoma City and Dallas-Ft. Worth taking top honors among cities across the nation, according to a new survey.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges in an enforcement action against Deloitte’s affiliate in Shanghai, China, accusing the firm of violating U.S. securities laws by refusing to produce audit work paper documents.

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, also known as COSO, plans to release the updated version of its Internal Control–Integrated Framework in the first quarter of 2013, instead of the fall of 2012.

On a unanimous voice vote, the House has approved the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, with the goal of establishing strong reporting standards for federal spending information.

Hans Hoogervorst, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, said Wednesday that he believes Extensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL, has “the potential to improve the effectiveness of financial reporting.”

The newest member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Jeanette Franzel, is only the second female board member in the PCAOB’s nearly 10-year history.

The House has approved Republican-backed legislation to provide a tax cut of up to 20 percent for one year to companies with fewer than 500 employees.

Groupon Inc, the online coupon company that floated just months ago in the strongest IPO in years, has had recurring accounting problems that critics say show a need for more financial sophistication on its board.

New Rules Strengthen Risk Management for Financial Markets

The rapid growth of Islamic finance is increasing pressure on the industry to enter the accounting mainstream, by seeking guidance from the International Accounting Standards Board, the global body which sets the tone for bookkeeping in conventional finance.

President Obama signed into law on Thursday the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, also known as the JOBS Act, which lowers the regulatory and auditing barriers for companies to seek funding and enter the capital markets.

The Center for Audit Quality sees benefits in the updated Internal Control-Integrated Framework recently proposed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, or COSO.

Columnists Miller & Bahnson on FASB's big opportunity to demonstrate its independence

The latest in accounting regulation, standard-setting and more.

Columnists Miller & Bahnson on FASB's big opportunity to demonstrate its independence

The House Ways and Means Committee has passed a Republican-sponsored bill aimed at reducing taxes for small businesses that would also benefit larger companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that the U.S. GAAP 2012 Taxonomy is now available for use in the SEC’s EDGAR online database, along with the Mutual Fund Risk/Return Summary 2012.

Like Katniss Everdeen, the young heroine of the hit movie “The Hunger Games,” auditing leaders are facing their own test of survival.

Congress approved legislation Tuesday intended to spur investment in small businesses and help them access the capital markets, despite criticisms that it would weaken audit safeguards and investor protections.

The second day of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s two-day public meeting on its proposal for mandatory audit firm rotation had its share of drama, with accusations that the Big Four firms are monopolizing the audit market at the expense of minorities, and a demand from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the PCAOB shelve the proposal because of “mission creep.”