Regulatory actions and programs

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has established a new Office of Outreach and Small Business Liaison.

The Small Business Administration has launched two new initiatives designed to increase lending to underserved communities and make the process go faster.

Microsoft and the Small Business Administration have introduced a free technology guide to help small businesses grow and create jobs.

Two years after revelations emerged of Bernard Madoff’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme and only days after the suicide of Madoff’s eldest son, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board proposed a set of rules on Tuesday to begin expanding the PCAOB’s oversight authority to encompass audits of securities brokers and dealers.

A pair of senators have written to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner encouraging him to get two recently approved programs for increasing lending and credit for small businesses up and running.

The Senate has unanimously approved a clarification to the Federal Trade Commission’s oft-delayed Red Flags rule after lobbying by the American Institute of CPAs and a variety of state CPA societies.

The incoming Congress already appears intent on weakening the financial reform legislation passed by the outgoing Congress.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has voted to propose new rules to strengthen the SEC's oversight of investment advisers and fill important gaps in the regulatory landscape.

A bipartisan task force has issued a plan to cut the size of the national debt and the federal budget deficit through taxes and other means.

Chicago - Nearly half of the nation's chief financialofficers and senior controllers polled by global CPA and business advisory firmGrant Thornton say that the U.S. should not adopt international FinancialReporting Standards until after U.S. GAAP and IFRS have converged to the pointwhere the differences are inconsequential - a time frame of between five toseven years.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to propose a whistleblower program to reward individuals who provide the agency with high-quality tips that lead to successful enforcement actions for financial fraud.

Business owners who team up with other small businesses to jointly bid on federal contracts see the greatest results, according to a new study.

Obama administration officials awarded $1 billion in therapeutic discovery project tax credits and grants to nearly 3,000 companies around the country to support promising biomedical research projects.

Wiss & Company has recently introduced The Wiss Economic Incentive Group to help businesses throughout the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut participate in government incentive programs.

India is scheduled to begin using International Financial Reporting Standards in less than six months, but the country may be making several key changes in the standards prior to the rollout.

IMGCAP(1)]Let’s look at two everyday situations. In one, a bank lends money to someone to buy a house or to start a new business. In the second, a company raises debt financing to finance a new investment.

Many privately held companies wonder where the accounting standard-setters will lead them. The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are working toward eliminating differences between U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards, and many wonder if they should transition to IFRS, stay with GAAP, or if there are other alternatives.

In the previous issue, we republished a column from 2008 to help readers who might be confused or even baffled by the massive paradigm shift contained in the recent lease accounting exposure draft issued jointly by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board. When implemented, the proposal would capitalize all leases, finally closing down a 35-year-old loophole that has proven to be insanely popular with managers for achieving off-balance-sheet financing. The prior column described why this change is for the best.

The U.S. Department of Labor and the American Institute of CPAs have launched an interactive website to help small businesses select a retirement plan suitable for their employees.

Few CPAs are trying to learn or implement International Financial Reporting Standards until the Securities and Exchange Commission decides next year on whether to approve incorporating IFRS into the U.S. financial reporting system, according to a new survey.