Recent Industry Headlines

We peruse the Internet headlines so you don’t have to. Here are the recent headlines (and links) we felt newsworthy:

SEC panel warns XBRL could have costs like Sarb-Ox - Made up of business executives and academics, the advisory group to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed the regulator take a staged approach in requiring companies to file financial data in XBRL.

The SarBox: The bill for restatements can be costly - Companies that correct financials end up paying more to lenders.

Report Estimates New Costs of SOX Compliance - A new report finds the cost of compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 internal control audit requirements for smaller public companies is actually about 14 percent lower than the Securities and Exchange Commission’s original estimates.

Security management tops IT strategy league - The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) said that IT governance moved up the list from sixth to second place this year, reflecting the market’s renewed emphasis on corporate governance and responsibility.

Audit Market Growing More Concentrated - The audit market for large public companies has become more concentrated among the Big Four firms, but not enough to require corrective action, according to a government report.

GAAP is still around - Mr. Cox stressed that there are too many imperfections in international accounting standards to switch wholesale to IFRS at this point. Additional work must be done before the SEC would be able to recognize the International Accounting Standards Board as the sole accounting regulator, Mr. Cox said, including changing language in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Syms move to delist raises hackles of some investors - "Companies that leave a prestigious exchange such as the NYSE lose access to investors who have no confidence in stocks sold over the counter"

Compliance, Convergence and How IT Fits - There are more government rules for companies to follow, more departments required to follow them, and more legal risks for not doing so. Proactive executives can use IT to design and implement an effective compliance program to coordinate an organization’s various compliance processes.