International tax

S. Scott Voynich assumed the AICPA chairmanship at council’s fall meeting ( www.aicpa.org/download/ ). He is managing partner of Robinson, Grimes & Co. in Columbus, Georgia. Last month, Voynich sat for an interview with the JofA ( www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/nov2003/tie.htm ). The AICPA is presenting a series of Web-based programs on the

The European Commission adopts a regulation endorsing international accounting standards (IAS), including related interpretations, thereby requiring the approximately 7,000 European Union public companies to implement them beginning in 2005 ( www.iasb.org.uk ). The regulation includes all IASs and interpretations except those pertaining to the accounting and disclosure of financial instruments,

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) issues an exposure draft of a revision to its Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. The ED proposes elevating its ethics code to a standard requiring IFAC member compliance from a “model” on which to base national requirements. It expands guidance for all individual

  For news from the AICPA and state societies, visit www.cpa2biz.com , which also offers online CPE, AICPA professional literature, practice management aids and links to state society Web sites.   FASB issues as final five staff positions on Interpretation no. 46, Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities ( www.fasb.org/fasb_staff_positions/final_fsp.shtml ).

XBRL-US, the United States division of the AICPA-led trade group sponsoring the extensible business reporting language (XBRL), releases the results of an Institute-conducted survey ( www.xbrl.org ), which showed two-thirds of vendors either had made at least one of their accounting software products XBRL-enabled or planned to do so by

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) exposes a draft framework ( www.erm.coso.org ), which defines and describes enterprise risk management and provides a standard against which public and private, profit and nonprofit entities can evaluate the effectiveness of their risk management practices and identify ways to

The SEC approves rules the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) proposed under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ( www.sec.gov/rules/pcaob/34-48180.htm ). They establish a registration system for public accounting firms seeking PCAOB permission to prepare or issue audit reports for publicly traded companies. Under the act, firms that do not

AcSEC issues an exposure draft (ED) of a proposed statement of position (SOP), Allowance for Credit Losses, that addresses creditors’ recognition and measurement of the allowance for credit losses related to all loans, as defined—with certain exceptions—in FASB Statement no. 114, Accounting by Creditors for Impairment of a Loan. The

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. awards a 10-year, $39 million contract to Unisys Corp., which, with the assistance of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Microsoft Corp., EDGAR Online Inc. and other technology companies, will use XBRL (extensible business reporting language) and other tools to modernize and streamline federal bank regulators’ collection, processing and distribution

The AICPA accounting and review services committee releases an interpretation of AR section 100, “Compilation and Review of Financial Statements” (see Official Releases, JofA , Aug.03, page 104), of the AICPA Professional Standards. The interpretation, “Applicability of Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services When an Accountant Engaged to

The GAO publishes its fourth revision of Government Auditing Standards (also known as the Yellow Book). First issued in 1972, the volume contains generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS) for audits of government organizations, programs, activities and functions as well as for audits of government assistance to contractors, nonprofit organizations

The AICPA elects former four-term Iowa Governor Terry Branstad one of the three public, or non-CPA, members of its board of directors. Recently, as chairman of President George W. Bush’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education, Branstad developed a plan to improve disabled students’ scholastic performance ( www.aicpa.org/download/news/2003_0527.pdf ). He

The international auditing and assurance standards board of the International Federation of Accountants issues an exposure draft (ED) containing a proposed international auditing standard (ISA), Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Auditor of the Entity. The proposal provides guidance on the scope of such reviews, which differs from

The private companies practice section (PCPS)—the AICPA alliance for CPA firms—and the Texas Society of CPAs launch their 2003 national management of an accounting practice (MAP) survey, which will ask firms to provide information on their performance, profitability, size and areas of specialization. The firms then will be able to