Regulatory actions and programs

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has struck a deal with Dutch regulators to carry out joint inspections of auditing firms.

The European Commission has proposed a draft law that could split up the largest auditing firms and force them to use a separate entity and name for their advisory and non-audit practices.

Accountants need to be wary of promoting their services as advisors who can help their clients achieve success at the same time the firms are auditing their books.

PwC Reports Fraud, Cyber Crime on the Rise

Accounting firm Clifton Gunderson said Tuesday it is intensifying its efforts to persuade the Financial Accounting Foundation to set up an independent board to set accounting standards for privately held companies.

International Accounting Standards Board chairman Hans Hoogervorst said that regardless of which way the Securities and Exchange Commission decides to go on supporting International Financial Reporting Standards, the main thing that is needed from the U.S. right now is “clarity.”

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has entered into an agreement with the Financial Supervisory Commission of Taiwan to cooperate on oversight of auditors who practice in either the U.S. or Taiwan.

The Private Company Financial Reporting Committee held what is likely to be one of its final meetings last week as the PCFRC gets ready to disband.

A bipartisan pair of influential senators introduced legislation Friday that would make disciplinary hearings against auditing firms public.

The Texas Society of CPAs has weighed in on the Financial Accounting Foundation’s controversial proposal to set up a Private Company Standards Improvement Council and sent a letter expressing its “respectful disagreement.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission has released two eagerly anticipated staff papers comparing International Financial Reporting Standards with U.S. GAAP and analyzing IFRS in practice at foreign companies.

The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the relative unpopularity of the Small Business Health Tax Credit that is part of the health care reform law.

The Financial Accounting Foundation has sent a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission supporting the so-called “condorsement” approach to incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards into the U.S. financial reporting system, but with some important changes.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a motion aiming to have a CPA held in civil contempt of court for allegedly violating an injunction against him from appearing or practicing before the SEC.

The Republican leader of the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee plans to hold a hearing to probe the efficacy of the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit in the aftermath of a report that found a disappointing number of small businesses taking advantage of the tax break in the health care reform law.

Securities and Exchange Commission chief accountant James Kroeker criticized the American Institute of CPAs’ resolution of disapproval against the Financial Accounting Foundation’s proposal to set up a Private Company Standards Improvement Council, calling it a “clear threat to the independence of the FAF.”

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has agreed to cooperate with Israeli financial regulators on exchanging confidential information about auditing and accounting firms.

The head of a British accounting group is warning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Accounting Standards Board against pursuing a so-called “condorsement” approach to International Financial Reporting Standards.

The Securities and Exchange Commission intends to hold its annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation on November 17 at its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

U.S. and Hong Kong accounting organizations have inked a five-year mutual recognition agreement that would allow reciprocity between U.S. and Hong Kong CPAs.