4th Quarter, 2009
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4th Quarter, 2009 |
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SEC Chief Accountant Commits to Giving IFRS Roadmap a Second Look
By Jake Vossen, CPA, Audit PartnerEight months ago, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Roadmap in Release No. 33-8982 had been given up for dead. But despite the apparent lack of enthusiasm for the international rules among some senior SEC officials, the plan to replace U.S. GAAP is still active. The Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC's) Chief Accountant, James Kroeker, has stated that the proposal is very much one of his priorities. Read more >>> Accounting Standards Codification is Here
By Greg Pfahl, CPA, Senior Audit ManagerThe Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC or Codification) project has been ongoing since 2004, though seemingly unnoticed. However, on July 1, 2009, FASB issued its last ever statement of financial accounting standards (SFAS). SFAS number 168, The FASB Accounting Standards Codification and the Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles is effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009, and creates a single source of authoritative U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Read more >>> Board of Directors Plays Increasingly More Important
By Rich Schwartzenberger, Senior Manager, Business Advisory ServicesRole in ERM Oversight The evidence is abundant. The New York Stock Exchange’s corporate governance rules require audit committees of listed corporations to discuss risk assessment and risk management policies. The U.S. Treasury Department is considering regulatory reforms that would require compensation committees to review and disclose strategies for aligning compensation with sound risk management policies. Credit rating agencies, such as Standard and Poor’s, are now assessing risk management processes as part of their new corporate credit rating analysis. Even more, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary Schapiro recently indicated that potential new regulations may be emerging requiring greater disclosures about risk oversight practices at public companies. Clearly, risk assessment and management is at the forefront of business best practices these days, and the pressure to oversee that is falling to the Board of Directors. Read more >>> SOX 404(b) Deadline Extended Yet Again
By Bill Evert, CPA, National Director, Business Advisory ServicesThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on October 2, 2009 that it has once again extended the deadline for non-accelerated public companies to comply with Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX 404). This extension will expire beginning with the annual reports of companies with fiscal years ending on or after June 15, 2010. This expiration date previously had been for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2009. Under SOX 404(b), auditors of public companies are required to perform an audit of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR). The smallest public companies, those with a public float below $75 million, are still required to design, implement, test, and document internal controls. However, their auditors will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of these controls until fiscal years ending after June 15, 2010. Please join us for our upcoming roundtable in Denver on October 23, when we will discuss what your management team should be doing to be prepared for this deadline. For more information, click here. |
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Welcome to the latest edition of Public Company Insight, our quarterly newsletter dedicated to public companies. We’ve made a big change around here, choosing to go with an electronic versus paper format! It has environmental benefits, sure, but more importantly, it allows us to manage and update our articles online, keeping you in the loop and allowing you to refer back to past issues at any time. In addition to its navigational ease, you can now read full bios on each author. We hope that while you’re already on our website, you can also check out our latest firm news and upcoming events. We’re excited about our new ode to technology, and we hope you agree!