Welcome to The CPA Journal Archives

Visit cpajournal.com to read the very latest from The CPA Journal

 

July 2016  »  Tax & Accounting Update

Tax & Accounting Update

Tax & Accounting Update is provided by Thomson Reuters and based on material published on Checkpoint, its online news and research platform. The Update is a quick-reference guide to the most pressing issues coming down the regulatory and administrative pipeline. Visit https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/checkpoint-news/ for further information and daily updates.

Tax News

Proposed bill would require presidential candidates to release tax returns.

On May 25, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the “Presidential Tax Transparency Act.” If enacted, the bill would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require major party candidates for President to disclose recent tax return information. Specifically, the bill would require that, no later than 15 days after being nominated, the candidate must file with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) copies of all income tax returns for the three most-recent tax years for which a return has been filed. If the returns are not filed, the chairman of the FEC must request the returns from the Treasury Department.

SEC News

House advances budget bill cutting SEC funding.

On May 25, the House Appropriations Committee approved a budget bill that would cut the SEC's funding and impose new constraints on its activities. By a voice vote, the subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government approved the spending measure, giving the SEC $1.55 billion in funding for fiscal 2017. The total represents a rebuke to the White House, which has asked Congress for $1.78 billion to fund the commission in the coming fiscal year. “We should not be cutting funding for the agency primarily responsible for preventing the abuses that caused our financial meltdown,” Representative José Serrano (DNY), the subcommittee's ranking member, said in his opening statement.

FASB News

Final amendments to not-for-profit standard slated for August release.

On June 1, FASB announced that it plans to issue a set of final amendments to U.S. GAAP for not-for-profit organizations this August. The update is expected to exclude a controversial proposed requirement for cash flow reporting, called the direct method, which would have linked cash receipts and payments to operating activities. Not-for-profit organizations objected to the requirement when proposed last year because of the difficulty they would have faced gathering the data.

PCAOB News

Audit quality project shifts to monitoring mode.

The PCAOB plans to monitor the actions taken by audit firms to promote audit quality as the next phase in its audit quality project. “The staff are really in a research mode, monitoring mode; it will be quite some time before we can or would take any official action,” board member Jeanette Franzel said during a meeting of the PCAOB's Standing Advisory Group in Washington on May 18. Franzel also said that, in the meantime, the board has been encouraging private-sector experimentation with the so-called Audit Quality Indicators. “If we don't see developments happening out there, we might prod people along,” she said.

IASB News

Securities regulators to take role in writing IFRS.

The IFRS Foundation and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have announced that they will cooperate on developing and implementing IFRS. The effort will include a heightened degree of communication between the regulators, in addition to letting IOSCO have a say in the activities of the IASB, of which the IFRS Foundation is the parent organization. “The input of IOSCO and its members has helped shape the development and implementation of IFRS,” said IFRS Foundation Chair Michel Prada in prepared remarks. “This initiative will provide an important framework for future cooperation as we work toward the shared goal of high quality standards for the global capital markets.” The accounting board and the regulators will also work together for the consistent implementation of IFRS globally.

GASB News

Ratings analyst named to GASB.

The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), the parent organization of the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB), appointed Jeffrey Previdi to a five-year term on the standards-setting board for state and local governments. Previdi, a municipal bond analyst, was a managing director at Standard & Poor's Ratings Services until December. “Jeff's expertise and insight will serve the GASB well on the important issues we're currently addressing, including developing an initial document for public comment on the reexamination of the financial reporting model for governments,” said GASB Chairman David Vaudt. Previdi's term begins on July 1; he replaces William Fish, whose term will end on June 30.

 
Search for archived articles, authors, and topics below:

 

Login or create a new account

 
Menu