Tammy Whitehouse

The accounting and auditing professions had a busy year in 2007, grappling with all manner of new problems and concerns and trying to wrestle old ones into control. 2008 promises to be no different; below is a recap of major accounting issues last year and how they are likely to affect financial reporting executives in […]

As companies close the books and prepare for their annual audits, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commissions offered a number of reporting and disclosure tips for public companies at the recent American Institute of Certified Public Accountants conference on regulatory developments. Staff members with the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant and Division […]

The turmoil in the credit markets may be exposing weak accounting rules that let companies keep plunging security values off the balance sheet, but regulators and rulemakers are reminding folks to follow valuation and disclosure rules rather than let companies go too far. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently sent a letter to public companies […]

Regulators have given auditing firms a polite but firm reminder of their duties in auditing fair-value measurements, adding to the chorus of voices calling for more candid assessments of certain credit-based securities. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board published a brief practice alert giving auditors some timely advice about their duties in auditing fair-value measurements […]

Audit regulators have taken their first significant disciplinary swipe—finally—at a Big 4 accounting firm, fining Deloitte & Touche $1 million for a 2003 audit failure and barring a Deloitte audit partner from auditing public companies. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board censured Deloitte in connection with its 2003 audit of Ligand Pharmaceuticals, and barred former […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission has not yet decided whether to let U.S. companies file their financial statements using International Financial Reporting Standards. Regardless, the message from regulators is increasingly clear: You should start thinking about it anyway. Speaking last week at a conference of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, SEC Deputy Chief […]

The U.S. Treasury Department got an earful last week on how it should address growing concerns that the auditing business may not be sustainable under current market and regulatory forces. The department assembled its Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession for an all-day hearing with leaders from audit firms, academic circles, law firms, other professional […]

A suite of new accounting rules spelling out how to account for mergers, acquisitions, and partial interests in other entities is finally on the books, culminating years of effort and giving financial reporting executives plenty to think about. The rules are another giant leap toward fair value accounting and require new uses of fair value […]

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is offering a preview of how it wants to draw a sharper line between equity and liabilities, specifically to address complex financial instruments that have blurred the distinction between the two bedrock accounting concepts for years. The Board issued its preliminary views in “Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity” to […]