Financial Crisis

Hans Hoogervorst, chair of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), provided an optimistic view about the future of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) before the European Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Monday, stating that numerous countries have already implemented a wholesale adoption of the international standards while many others -- including the U.S -- are seriously considering doing so.

As American companies look across the Atlantic to the trouble brewing in Europe, shareholders are beginning to wonder just how much risk could follow them across the ocean should things worsen.

Although many once-stalwart industries are feeling the pinch from the current economic crisis, several sectors, including accounting, are not only remaining strong but are actually growing in these harsh financial times, according to the Wall Street Journal. Data from job search website Monster.com shows that the number of companies seeking qualified accounting personnel increased by 12 percent over the last 120 days.

The Securities and Exchange Commission released a report that, while praising credit rating agencies for small operational improvements, nonetheless identified a series of issues they need to improve on. The report found that credit agencies, among other things, often fail to follow methodologies and procedures, make timely and accurate disclosures, establish effective internal control structures or adequately manage conflicts of interest.

Interesting, right? Want more? Make sure to check out the NYSSCPA Manhattan/Bronx Chapter's upcoming Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Outlook: National & Regional Seminar on Oct. 6 from 6-8 p.m. at Deutsche Bank, 60 Wall St., Auditorium lower level, N.Y.C. It's worth 2 CPE credits (specialized knowledge). You don't want to miss it. Register today!

View the webcast and check out Bloomberg's coverage of the event by journalist John Ethan Detrixhe.

As the housing market continues to struggle, producing a great deal of mortgage-related stress for homeowners, a type of scam that offers relief, but rarely delivers, has been on the rise, according to the Daily Finance.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering possible civil action against credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s over its alleged role in the financial crisis, particularly with regard to its evaluation of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), according to the New York Times.

Credit-rating agency Standard and Poors has warned that, should the United States, through the Financial Standards Accounting Board (FASB) adopt a proposed standard on balance sheet offsetting as part of its convergence project with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), U.S.

New York City families are experiencing poverty in record numbers, with destitution on the rise in all N.Y.C. boroughs other than Manhattan, according to U.S. Census Bureau data cited by WNYC.

The sentencing for David G. Friehling, the auditor of notorious Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, has been delayed -- again -- from Sept. 16 to March 23, 2012, reported Journal News blog lohud.com.