Accountants Round Up

"Accountancy Firms Halt Recruitment as Credit Crunch Takes Toll"

By AccountingWEB-UK: Over half (57%) of the top 100 accountancy firms say they are going to decrease or keep staff levels the same next year, according to recent research by web recruiter cvmail. Whilst only 5% of accountancy firms said they actually intended to cut headcount, this nevertheless represents the first pause in growth since since 9/11.

“The effect of the credit crunch on top accountancy firms has been felt in a slowdown in corporate finance work and may feed through into consultancy work,” said Andy Eddleston, commercial manager at cvmail.

Read complete article Accountancy Firms Halt Recruitment as Credit Crunch Takes Toll
Source: AccountingWEB-UK, 3 July 2008. Copyright © 2008 Sift Media. All rights reserved.

"One Step Forward on Pension Disclosures"

By Marie Leone: Pension investment disclosures in financial statements will become more "granular" in the future, though it's not yet clear what additional information will be required or what format will be mandated.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board met on Wednesday to discuss its project on post-retirement benefit obligations, focusing on how to update disclosures about plan assets. 

Read complete article One Step Forward on Pension Disclosures
Source: CFO.com, 16 July 2008. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2008. All rights reserved.

"Rule Forces Accountants to Suspect Clients"

By Lizette Wilson: A new law is creating friction between accountants and their clients, but has yet to spark any wildfires.

Passed in May 2007 as part of a supplemental funding bill for the Iraq War, the amended Section 6694 of the tax code tweaks a handful of definitions and increases responsibility for tax preparers in verifying their clients' numbers. Before the amendment, the Internal Revenue Service held preparers and clients to the same standard. This allowed them to work as a team, with accountants serving as client advocates rather than adversaries. The new rule turns that around.

Read complete article Rule Forces Accountants to Suspect Clients
Source: San Francisco Business Times, 18 July 2008. © 2008 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

"A New Era in Accounting?"

By Sarah A. Klein: In the battle to set accounting standards for companies across the globe, the United States appears to have lost. More than 100 countries, including Russia, those in the European Union, and soon Canada, have adopted or agreed to adopt the rules set by the London-based International Accounting Standards Board, a group established just seven years ago.

In doing so, they have rejected generally accepted accounting principles, the standard this country has been using for decades.

Read complete article A New Era in Accounting?
Source: Chicago Business, 21 July 2008. Copyright © 2008 Crain Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

"You'll Need a Fair Value "Mindset""

By Marie Leone: It will take more than a change in rules to make companies comfortable with the move to fair value accounting. It will take a change in "mindset," predicts Gary Kabureck, the chief accountant and corporate vice president at Xerox Corp.

Kabureck was one of eight experts invited by the Securities and Exchange Commission to participate in a roundtable session on fair value accounting this week.

Read complete article You'll Need a Fair Value "Mindset"
Source: CFO.com, 10 July 2008. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2008. All rights reserved.

"Global Talent Shortage Continues in Accounting, Finance"

By SmartPros: A shortage of experienced accounting and finance professionals continues to affect employers around the world, according to the second annual Robert Half Global Financial Employment Monitor.

For the second consecutive year, more than half (56 percent) of the finance and human resources managers surveyed worldwide reported difficulty finding skilled job candidates.

Read complete article Global Talent Shortage Continues in Accounting, Finance
Source: SmartPros, 14 July 2008. © 2007 SmartPros Ltd. All rights reserved.

"Nonprofits Face Tighter Rules, New Scrutiny"

By Cathy Cruz-George: Nonprofit groups in Hawaii will come under more scrutiny over the next year as changes to tax filings and a new state law promoting fiscal transparency take effect.

The law, Act 174, effective January 2009, requires nonprofit groups soliciting charitable funds to register with the attorney general. It also authorizes the state to investigate possible violations.

Read complete article Nonprofits Face Tighter Rules, New Scrutiny
Source: Pacific Business News, 4 July 2008. © 2008 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

"Accounting for the World"

By Tim Reason: At the same time that the Securities and Exchange Commission was hosting a roundtable about the impact of fair value accounting on U.S. companies in Washington, D.C. yesterday, another meeting was taking place just three miles away that could have a huge impact on all accounting for U.S. companies.

For the past two days, the trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation — the parent of the International Accounting Standards Board — have been meeting to discuss changes to their constitution.

Read complete article Accounting for the World
Source: CFO.com, 10 July 2008. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2008. All rights reserved.

"PCAOB Weighs Feedback on EQR Proposal"

By Ken Rankin: U.S. corporations and accountants concerned over rising audit costs due to Sarbanes-Oxley requirements may soon have more to worry about — including another spike in audit charges as a result of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s proposed new standard for engagement quality review.

The stricter standard, which was initially proposed back in February and would apply to audits of public companies performed under PCAOB standards, is risk-based and designed to ease identification and speed correction of audit deficiencies prior to issuing the auditor’s report.

Read complete article PCAOB Weighs Feedback on EQR Proposal
Source: WebCPA, 7 July 2008. © 2007 WebCPA and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Push for New Accounting Standards Gains Speed"

By Jeffrey H. Bimbaum: The Bush administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission are pressing forward with a plan that would allow American companies to opt out of using U.S. accounting standards in favor of international ones as a way to ease global business dealings and help corporations raise capital around the world.

But critics in Congress and elsewhere warn that the initiative threatens to let industry unravel investor protections enacted since the Enron scandal.

Read complete article Push for New Accounting Standards Gains Speed
Source: Washington Post.com, 8 July 2008. © Copyright 1996- 2008 The Washington Post Company. All rights reserved.