PCAOB Inspection Stops the Presses

Presstek, a favorite target of Wall Street short-sellers during the 1990s, will delay filing its 2006 annual report due to a dispute with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.The print-technology company explained that after a routine PCAOB inspection of the company’s former auditors, BD...

By Stephen Taub and Dave Cook • March 14, 2007

The Sarbox Hot Potato

While acknowledging, and even joining in, mounting criticism of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, lawmakers remain reluctant to make any changes to the law. Rather, they want the Securities and Exchange Commission to make improvements. Both Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been unde...

By Sarah Johnson • March 14, 2007

Explore the Trendline➔

Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

Filing Delayed over Issue of “Key Money”

Claire’s Stores will delay filing its fiscal 2007 annual report and fourth-quarter results to pre-clear an accounting issue with the Securities and Exchange Commission staff.The costume jewelry and accessories retailer explained that while reviewing its results and discussing certain accounting p...

By Dave Cook and Stephen Taub • March 14, 2007

In California, Accounting Gone Awry

Accounting-related problems at California’s Department of Mental Health have cost the state about $300 million, reported the Los Angeles Times.The department’s $1 billion Early, Periodic Screening and Treatment Program has come up short by tens of millions of dollars because some of its money had...

By Stephen Taub and Dave Cook • March 13, 2007

SEC Rings Up Nortel Execs for Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil fraud charges against four former executives of Nortel Networks for a widespread accounting fraud designed to bridge the gap between internal targets and Wall Street expectations on the one hand, and the company’s true performance on the othe...

By Stephen Taub • March 12, 2007

Former Friedman’s CEO Indicted

Bradley Stinn, former chief executive officer of jewelry retailer Friedman’s and its affiliate, Crescent Jewelers, was indicted in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn for his participation in the company’s accounting fraud.If convicted of the most serious charge — conspiracy to commit securities frau...

By Stephen Taub • March 9, 2007

Congressmen to Seek 404 Relief

Three congressmen plan to introduce a bill tomorrow that they say will ease the financial burdens felt by smaller businesses affected by the internal-controls provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), and Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) are reintroducing the Co...

By Sarah Johnson • March 9, 2007

FASB Offers More Help on Tax Puzzler

Just as a new standard on accounting for uncertain income taxes becomes effective, there’s more guidance on the subject from the Financial Accounting Standards Board.FASB has issued a proposed staff position to amend FASB Interpretation No. 48, accounting for uncertainty in income taxes, and defi...

By Helen Shaw • March 9, 2007

CFOs: 404 Compliance Back at Square One

Mismatches between the internal-controls proposals of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will keep compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act overly burdensome and costly, CFOs think.In letters to the SEC and the PCAOB commenting on...

By Sarah Johnson • March 9, 2007

Russian Police Knock at PwC’s Door

“The tax man cometh” somehow sounds more ominous in the middle of the Russian winter.The Moscow office of PricewaterhouseCoopers has acknowledged that on Friday it was visited by police investigators, reported the Associated Press. A PwC spokeswoman elaborated that a group of Interior Ministry of...

By Stephen Taub and Dave Cook • March 9, 2007

Discounter Is More Than a Dollar Short

Family Dollar Stores will record a $10.5 million charge for the fiscal year ended August 26, 2006, after a special committee found that the company did not properly account for certain stock options granted between 1995 and 2006.The discount retailer stressed it will not restate prior results bec...

By Stephen Taub • March 8, 2007

Utility, SEC Settle over Restatement

NorthWestern Corp. disclosed that it has settled an administrative proceeding with the Securities and Exchange Commission stemming from its restatement for the first three quarters of 2002.According to the SEC, the Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based utility filed reports for that period that “materi...

By Stephen Taub • March 8, 2007

One Accounting Standard for All?

U.S. companies and their overseas counterparts should eventually use the same accounting standard, according to Donald Nicolaisen, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chief accountant who drafted a 2005 plan for the SEC to recognize the European Union’s equivalent of U.S. generally acce...

By Sarah Johnson • March 7, 2007

Broader View for Audit Oversight?

At a meeting on Tuesday, the heads of the audit oversight bodies for the United States and the European Union agreed to begin ”roadmap” discussions on cooperation, with the goal of full reliance on each other’s oversight systems by 2009.Mark Olson, chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversi...

By Dave Cook and Stephen Taub • March 6, 2007

Will the SEC Let U.S. GAAP Die?

The Securities and Exchange Commission is getting closer to allowing foreign firms to report their financial results in the United States using international accounting standards. But if that happens, why shouldn’t U.S. companies be allowed to do the same?That was the question raised by several p...

By Sarah Johnson • March 6, 2007

UnitedHealth Earnings $1.5B Less Healthy

UnitedHealth Group will reduce previously reported net earnings by more than $1.5 billion due to incorrect accounting for stock options.The restatements reflect changes under both the company’s current accounting method, Financial Accounting Standard No. 123R, and its historical method, Accountin...

By Stephen Taub • March 6, 2007

ADC: All Divestitures Count

ADC Telecommunications will restate results for its fiscal year ended October 2006 to add an impairment charge stemming from the sale of its APS France services business.In a regulatory filing, ADC explained that in the third quarter of fiscal 2006, its board of directors approved the planned div...

By Stephen Taub • March 6, 2007

Option Woes: Agile Trips, Forrester Lost

Agile Software will restate financial results for certain prior periods after an internal review by a special committee into its past practices for granting stock options.The business software maker, which has a market capitalization of $340 million, reviewed option grants to all employees, direc...

By Stephen Taub • March 6, 2007

BlackBerry Maker to ”Resend” Earnings

Research In Motion, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company best known for its BlackBerry device, will restate earnings by a total of about $250 million for fiscal years 2004 through 2006 and for the first quarter of fiscal 2007.RIM stated that a special committee of its board of directors identified...

By Stephen Taub • March 5, 2007

Mistrial Granted in BDO Fraud Case

A judge has declared a mistrial in the $170 million fraud case brought by Portugal-based Banco Espirito Santo against BDO Seidman, according to published accounts.According to the Miami Herald, defense attorneys had moved for a mistrial after a plaintiff’s attorney, while questioning a witness, r...

By Dave Cook • March 5, 2007

Apex Silver Mines Digs Into Derivatives

Apex Silver Mines will restate its financials for the quarter ended September 30, 2005, the year ended December 31, 2005, and the first three quarters of 2006 after determining that the method it had used to estimate the fair value of metals derivative positions was not appropriate.Apex explained...

By Stephen Taub • March 5, 2007

Tax Accounting Taxes Commerce Bancorp

Commerce Bancorp will delay the filing of its 2006 annual report by 15 days so it can complete its analysis of unresolved tax accounting matters.The holding company for Commerce Bank N.A. and Commerce Bank/North disclosed that it may need to restate results for 2004 and 2005 because of its provis...

By Stephen Taub • March 5, 2007

No More “Allowances” for Kmart, Vendors

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced it settled charges against the final two defendants who allegedly caused Kmart to issue materially false financial statements by improperly accounting for millions of dollars worth of vendor “allowances.”In December 2004, the SEC filed civil ch...

By Stephen Taub • March 2, 2007

Options Woes Delay UnitedHealth Filing

UnitedHealth Group has announced that due solely to matters related to stock-option accounting, it will need more time to file its 2006 annual report.The health insurer, which will take advantage of an automatic two-week extension, expects to file by March 15. At that time, the company added, it ...

By Stephen Taub • March 2, 2007

BDO Seeks Mistrial in Fraud Case

Attorneys for BDO Seidman have called for a mistrial in the $170 million fraud case brought by Portugal-based Banco Espirito Santo, reported The Miami Herald.According to the newspaper, defense attorneys made their motion after a plaintiff’s attorney, while questioning a witness, referred to the ...

By Dave Cook and Stephen Taub • March 2, 2007