Accountants Round Up

"Financial Reporting Complexity: Can It Be Reduced?"

By Dan Meyer: The Global Accounting Alliance, a group of accounting standard-setting bodies from throughout the world, recently met in New York to discuss complexity in financial reporting. They found some agreement on the desirably of simplifying financial reporting but not much agreement on how to accomplish the goal.

Read complete post Financial Reporting Complexity: Can It Be Reduced?
Source: Tick Marks, 17 July 2009.

"EU: Banks Using Looser Accounting Rules"

By Brussels (AP): European banks are increasingly using looser accounting rules to report a higher value in their 2008 accounts for complex investments that depreciated during the financial crisis, EU market supervisors said Wednesday.

Rules which required assets to be valued at market prices -- called fair-value or mark-to-market -- were eased in October to allow European companies to use higher prices for derivatives when they reported earnings from the third quarter of 2008.

Read complete article EU: Banks Using Looser Accounting Rules
Source: Yahoo Finance, 15 July 2009. Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! All rights reserved.

"Accounting Not To Blame For Financial Crisis"

By Mario Christodoulou: Accounting rule makers should remain independent from `undue commercial and political pressures', a group of recognised leading financial experts has warned in a report which defends accounting standards as `not a root cause of the financial crisis'.

The Financial Crisis Advisory Group (FCAG), formed in the wake of the global economic meltdown by American and International accounting rule makers, today published its recommendations where it said the independence of standard setters should be maintained.

Read complete article Accounting Not To Blame For Financial Crisis
Source: Accountancy Age, 28 July 2009. © Incisive Media Ltd. 2009 Incisive Media Limited.

"More on Health Care Reform: Congress Apparently Sweet on Soda Tax"

By TAXGIRL: Though the health care reform bill has officially been tabled until after the break, there is still work to do in Congress before a vote can be scheduled. At the top of the list? Find a way to pay for the bill...Yes, you guessed it. The so-called “soda tax” is now back in the picture.

The soda tax (which failed when proposed in New York) has been proposed in the House and Senate as a potential revenue generator to pay for health care reform. The tax would be a 3 cent surtax on soda, energy drinks and “other” sugary drinks (various proposals have included taxing, for example, certain kinds of juices).

Read complete post More on Health Care Reform: Congress Apparently Sweet on Soda Tax
Source: TAXGIRL Blog, 28 July 2009. © 2005-2009 Kelly Phillips Erb.

"Financial Crisis Creates Fair Value Skeptics"

By WebCPA Staff: Turmoil in the financial markets has negated the value of fair value accounting, according to more than half the respondents to a new survey.

The survey of financial professionals’ views on fair value accounting by valuation-related service provider Valuation Research Corp. found that a majority of respondents indicated that they believed that market turmoil and the collapse of active markets for many assets caused implementation issues in fair value accounting.

Read complete article Financial Crisis Creates Fair Value Skeptics
Source: WebCPA, 13 July 2009. © 2009 Accountants Media Group and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Help wanted: Accounting PhDs"

Posted by Marge O’Reilly-Allen and David Wagaman: The accounting profession is facing yet another challenge: a severe shortage of doctorally qualified faculty to teach the next generation of accountants. A growing demand for accounting professors has resulted in an inadequate supply of accounting PhDs, and accounting programs are experiencing great difficulty recruiting new faculty members. The situation is growing worse, and will not improve unless both academia and the accounting profession work together to develop long-term solutions.

Read complete article Help wanted: Accounting PhDs
Source: AccountingWEB, 27 July 2009. a Sift Media publication © 2009 Sift Media Limited.

"More Stringent Accounting Ethics Code Released"

By WebCPA Staff: The International Federation of Accountants and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants have issued a revised Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants that strengthens the independence requirements of auditors.

The revised code, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2011, extends the independence requirements for audits of listed entities to all "public-interest entities," which are companies that are considered to be of significant public relevance.

Read complete article More Stringent Accounting Ethics Code Released
Source: WebCPA, 10 July 2009. © 2009 Accountants Media Group and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Computerized CPA Exam Reaches One Million Mark"

By AccountingWEB: The computerized Uniform CPA Examination has achieved one million administrations, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and Prometric, the three parties in charge of the exam.

"The significance of the one millionth exam section transcends the milestone itself," said Barry Melancon, AICPA president and CEO. "More people are sitting for the CPA exam because the CPA profession has enjoyed unprecedented growth as an attractive career choice. Our research shows that colleges and universities are awarding more bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting than at any other time in history."

Read complete article Computerized CPA Exam Reaches One Million Mark
Source: AccountingWEB, 8 July 2009. Copyright © 2009 AccountingWEB, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Accounting Board Chief Urges Major Rule Changes"

By Marcy Gordon: The head of the rule-setting board for corporate accounting on Friday said financial rules need significant changes to bring an end to massive, unbridled markets and prevent a repeat of the economic crisis.

"People have to believe that the system works properly" without conflicts of interest and incentives toward financial recklessness, Robert Herz, the chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, said in remarks to the National Press Club.

Read complete article Accounting Board Chief Urges Major Rule Changes
Source: News Tribune, 26 June 2009. Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

"Regulatory Reform Plan Calls For Substantial Progress Towards Global Accounting Standards By Year End"

By The Ohio Society of CPAs: President Barack Obama and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner presented a comprehensive regulatory reform plan to reform the U.S. financial regulatory system and put the economy on track to a sustainable recovery. A recommendation that stands out in the plan calls for accounting standard setters to “make substantial progress by the end of 2009 toward development of a single set of high quality global accounting standards.”

Read complete article Regulatory Reform Plan Calls For Substantial Progress Towards Global Accounting Standards By Year End
Source: The Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants, updated 17 June 2009. © 2007-2010 The Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants.