Accounting & Auditing

Nearly one of 10 companies that has changed auditors so far this year has also reported internal control issues. That’s according to an in-depth analysis conducted by Manchaug, Mass.-based AuditAnalytics.com, which found that 1,647 companies reported a change in auditors through Dec. 6. And 152, or more than 9 percent of the total, had disclosed […]

Audit fees are up, but if you consider the increase in revenues plus inflation, the fees appear not to have gone up dramatically, according to a recent study published in June 2004 by Glass Lewis, an analytical research firm. In its report, Glass Lewis concluded that “the amounts paid to auditors for the audits of […]

While U.S. financial executives are buried in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, their counterparts in Europe are racing against a deadline to overhaul entire accounting methods—a shift Ernst & Young called “the biggest change in financial reporting in a generation and on a global basis.” The European Union has set Jan. 1, 2005, as the date by which […]

Before breaking for the Thanksgiving holiday last week, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued FASB Statement No. 151, Inventory Costs, to specify that companies should report abnormal inventory amounts as charges against earnings in the current period. Abnormal inventory includes idle facility expense, freight, handling costs and wasted materials. FASB issued the statement to make […]

Despite the recent flurry of new accounting standards, companies discovering accounting problems still have significant leeway and equal margin for error in disclosure. That’s according to Mary Ann Jorgenson, an attorney with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, who recently delivered a presentation on the topic at the Practicing Law Institute’s conference on securities regulation. Jorgenson echoed […]

As expected, last week the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted its August proposal to postpone, for one year, the final phase-in period for acceleration of periodic report deadlines. The postponement, which applies to accelerated filers with market capitalizations of at least $75 million, was the shortest postponement considered by the Commission; the original proposal called […]

The Financial Accounting Standards Board said recently it would issue staff positions to offer guidance on how companies should account for certain tax benefits recently extended to U.S. manufacturers in the latest tax law. The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 provides domestic manufacturers a tax deduction of up to 9 percent on certain portions […]

It was a stern reminder the Securities and Exchange Commission sent to the auditing world recently: Appearances do matter. The agency delivered a $10 million rap on the knuckles to KPMG on Oct. 20, for ignoring improper revenue statements from its client Gemstar-TV Guide International. The inflated revenues themselves weren’t much: $212 million from late […]