Regulatory actions and programs

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Trinity National Corp. and wholly owned subsidiary Los Alamos Bank, have agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges of accounting fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has approved the renewal of its Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies.

The International Accounting Standards Board proposed temporary measures to address worries over conflicts between a standard that has been issued, and another that isn’t due for a year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the Jacksonville, Fla.-based retail chain Stein Mart Inc. with materially misstating its pre-tax income due to improper valuation of inventory subject to price discounts and for having inadequate internal accounting controls.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White is facing pressure to recuse herself from picking the next head of the regulator that polices accountants because of a potential conflict with her husband’s legal work.

The Securities and Exchange Commission imposed sanctions Thursday against a Florida-based CPA for performing deficient and fraudulent audits and quarterly reviews for eight publicly traded companies, and issuing false and misleading audit opinions on the companies’ annual financial statements.

Between legislative changes and proposed rules and guidance issued by government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels, business owners have a lot of red tape to navigate and understand.

The Institute of Internal Auditors has sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission calling on the SEC to require internal audit functions for all publicly traded companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will be poring over the comments it received on its recent proposal to toughen audit committee disclosures after the comment deadline expired Tuesday.

BDO USA has agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission that the firm dismissed a number of red flags and issued false and misleading unqualified audit opinions about the financial statements of a staffing services company, General Employment Enterprises.