Regulatory actions and programs

The Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight held a hearing to examine the diversion of federal contracts for small businesses to large companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously voted Tuesday to require large trading firms to identify themselves, so their market activities can be tracked.

A federal judge is allowing a shareholder lawsuit to proceed against a group of auditing firms that signed off on audits of China Expert Technology, a company they have accused of committing accounting fraud.

IMGCAP(1)]On May 25, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its final rules implementing the new whistleblower program of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

There used to be this great TV spot for a large commercial bank that spoofed its competitors' overlong waiting periods before depositors could get approved for a loan.

Six community banks have received a total of $123 million as part of the first wave of capital provided by the Small Business Lending Fund, according to the Treasury Department.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board issued two new standards Wednesday that aim to improve government financial reporting in two timely areas: providing taxpayers and others with information about how past transactions will continue to affect a government’s financial statements in the future, and clarifying the circumstances in which hedge accounting continues to be applied when a swap counterparty, or related credit support provider, is replaced.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued for public comment a set of proposed audit and attestation standards for audit engagements of broker-dealers.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has begun developing a “differential framework” that would help provide a short-term solution for creating distinct standards or exceptions for private companies.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has issued two exposure drafts proposing improvements to financial reporting of pensions by state and local governments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission held a roundtable discussion Thursday on International Financial Reporting Standards and how they ultimately might be incorporated into the U.S. financial reporting system.

IMGCAP(1)]Why aren’t businesses hiring?

Officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are heading to China later this month to meet with officials there to try to resolve the growing problems with audits of U.S.-listed Chinese companies.

The pace of change in the accounting profession is not just constant - it takes place at breakneck speed.

While Congress debates the debt ceiling and spending cuts, government contractors and entities - and the accounting firms that serve them - are functioning under an increasing regulatory environment that's testing some of their business fundamentals.

Sixty-one of the top 100 recipients of federal small business contracts for fiscal year 2010 were large companies, according to a new report.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged two former executives from a defunct California water treatment company with accounting fraud.

The Financial Planning Coalition has sent a letter.to the Securities and Exchange Commission, accompanied by a petition signed by more than 5,200 financial planners, urging the SEC to apply a uniform fiduciary standard to anyone providing personalized investment advice to retail clients.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued a concept release that aims to overhaul the auditor’s reporting model, describing different alternatives to provide more information to investors from the auditors of publicly traded companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously proposed amendments Wednesday to the broker-dealer financial reporting rule to strengthen audits of broker-dealers as well as the SEC’s oversight of the way broker-dealers handle their customers’ securities and cash.