Only one in 10 CFOs and financial executives surveyed by IBM Consulting Services believe their company’s internal controls comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act today — despite a compliance deadline only eight months away.The survey results, announced Wednesday, revealed that top executives from some of the largest U.S.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board today released a briefing paper that describes the broad parameters of the Board’s approach to the oversight of non-U.S. accounting firms.The briefing paper describes the Board’s plans for oversight of non-U.S. registered public accounting firms, based on cooperation with appropriate non-U.S. auditor oversight authorities.

A KPMG senior manager testified at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday that his refusal to sign off on an audit client’s questionable tax transactions hurt his career at the Big Four firm. Michael Hamersley, a five-year KPMG employee, filed suit against the company in June and the case is pending.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will be setting up regional offices around the country to be closer to the "action" in pursuing its oversight responsibilities.At his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on October 21, PCAOB Chairman William McDonough revealed plans to set up regional offices in Atlanta, Dallas and San Francisco, in addition to its main offices in New York and Washington, DC.PCAOB spokesperson Christi Harlan indicated that those regional locations were selected because of the proximity to the clusters of offices of public accounting firms that audit

U.S. and European Union regulators are nearing agreement over the once-controversial matter of European companies registering with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).As part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, all domestic and foreign firms auditing publicly held firms in the U.S. must register with the PCAOB. Domestic firms have until October 22, 2003.

On Tuesday, October 7, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board adopted final rules relating to inspections of registered public accounting firms. Section 104(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act directs the Board to conduct a continuing program of inspections to assess the degree to which each registered public accounting firm and its associated persons are complying with the Act, the Board's and the Commission's rules, and professional standards in connection with audits, audit reports, and related matters involving U.S. public companies.

A member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) put corporate America on notice this week, announcing that if a company fires its auditor, the Board is going to want to know why.After the accounting scandals of recent years, the PCAOB is going to be suspicious that auditors are being fired because they are unwilling to sign off on accounting that pushes the boundaries of acceptable practice.Charles D.

In its top to bottom review of all aspects of the auditing business, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has turned its attention to tax shelters.Created in the wake of corporate scandals at Enron, WorldCom and others, the PCAOB is charged with reforming the auditors who oversee publicly held companies. Most of those audit firms have until October 22 to register with the PCAOB, which will guarantee an inspection by the board.To date, just 440 audit firms—half the number who audited public companies last year—have registered.

Grant Thornton LLP, the nation’s fifth largest accounting and business advisory firm and one of the seven global accounting organizations, announced that it will not provide a number of services for its public audit clients that it believes is in keeping with the intent of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002."Just as we believe that the accounting industry should accept a principles versus rules based approach to accounting, we believe the same should be the case in adhering to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act," said Grant Thornton CEO Ed Nusbaum.