• Home Depot finds stock options that weren’t expensed

    An internal examination of the [tag]stock option[/tag] grant practices and procedures at Home Depot has uncovered about $10 million in unrecorded [tag]stock option expense[/tag]. However, the company says the amount is not material, so no prior year financial statements will […]

  • Is the IRS picking on small businesses?

    From CFO Magazine: In April, the chairman of the House [tag]Small Business[/tag] Committee accuse the [tag]IRS[/tag] of unfairly going after small businesses with [tag]audits[/tag] and complex rules. In 2005, the number of IRS audits of small companies increased in all […]

  • The 24,000 page tax return

    The [tag]IRS[/tag] issued a press release touting the success of its corproate [tag]e-filing[/tag] program. The nation’s largest [tag]tax return [/tag]comes from General Electric (GE), and if printed, would be 24,000 pages long. This is the first year that large corporations […]

  • Former office manager of dental clinic pleads guilty to felony theft charges

    Mary Ellen Wilson, age 56, pleaded guilty today to five counts of [tag]felony[/tag] theft from her employer, Gentle Family Dentistry. She was charged with stealing $293,000, but the actual losses could be more than double that figure. Under a [tag]plea […]

  • Fannie Mae settles for $400 million

    A report issued today from the [tag]Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight[/tag], or [tag]Ofheo[/tag], said that [tag]Fannie Mae[/tag]’s [/tag]quarterly earnings[/tag] were manipulated and the company engaged in [tag]improper accounting[/tag]. The report further stated that management was allowed to disregard [tag]accounting […]

  • SEC rejects SOX exemption for small companies

    For months, the [tag]SEC[/tag] has been considering whether to exempt small companies from [tag]Section 404[/tag] of [tag]Sarbanes-Oxley[/tag]. Compliance with [tag]SOX[/tag] is expensive, and it was argued that smaller companies were overburdened. Instead of exempting the small companies, the SEC has […]

  • Zale Corp CFO placed on leave

    The CFO of Zale Corp., Mark Lenz has been placed on administrative leave indefinitely. His offense: not disclosing delayed [tag]vendor payments[/tag] done to improve 2005 cash flow. Vendor payments scheduled for the last two weeks of the company’s fiscal year […]

  • Conspiracy of Fools: Materiality and Financial Statements

    Enron had banking and finance relationships with some of the largest international firms: Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch, and Greenwich NatWest to name a few. All of the firms were interested in continuing their business relationships with Enron, as […]

  • Third Party Confirmations Eyed

    Compliance Week By Tammy Whitehouse In light of regulatory action against fraudulent third-party audit confirmations, some law firms are advising their clients to proceed more carefully when asked to provide such confirmations. “We’re cautioning our clients regarding providing third-party confirmations, […]

  • SEC charges 3 former KPMG partners for altering audit working papers

    The [tag]SEC[/tag] press release: The [tag]Securities and Exchange Commission[/tag] today announced settled administrative actions finding improper professional conduct by a former [tag]KPMG[/tag] engagement partner and senior manager for failing properly to complete the audit of [tag]Tenet Healthcare Corporation[/tag]’s fiscal year […]