Government Procurement Fraud
 Could SOX Be Used to Hold Contractors Accountable?

By Gerald H. Lander, Valerie J. Kimball, and Kimberly A. Martyn

FEBRUARY 2008 - U.S. federal government funds are a limited resource expended to benefit the country and its citizens. Over the last five years, spending on federal contracts was the fastest-growing part of the discretionary budget, representing almost 40 cents of every dollar. Fraud in the federal procurement process squanders limited funds, threatens safety and national defense, and cheats American taxpayers. For the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, the government recovered a record total of more than $3.1 billion in settlements and judgments from cases involving claims of fraud. The authors illuminate the common types of procurement fraud and describe what is being done to discover and prevent fraud. The authors propose Sarbanes-Oxley–like reforms to combat the problem.

Full Story

 
Essentials
Publisher's Column
Perspectives

Tax Strategy Patents: Truth and Consequences

The recent settlement of a lawsuit against a former CEO of a major insurance company has only further fanned the flames over patented tax strategies—the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, and offering for sale or importing one’s own tax strategy. Due diligence for tax advisors must now include checking for patent infringement and advising clients about the legal ramifications of adopting a patented tax strategy. Full Story

Embracing a Borderless,
Technologically
Advanced World

 On December 3, 2007, I had the privilege of being one of 24 people asked to testify before the U.S. Treasury’s Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession. The underlying theme of the session was the regulation of the accounting profession in light of the growing convergence of national, international, and multijurisdictional planes, particularly as it relates to publicly traded entities. Full Story

Nonprofit CFOs

The advent of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) era in nonprofit governance is often interpreted to mean a phalanx of bookkeepers accurately accounting for every organizational penny, and keeping all interested parties informed in a timely manner. Unfortunately, if that performance measurement determines whether new legislation or organizational financial oversight is successful, then an interesting opportunity will have been missed. Full Story

The CPA Journal is broadly recognized as an outstanding, technical-refereed publication aimed at public practitioners, management, educators, and other accounting professionals. It is edited by CPAs for CPAs. Our goal is to provide CPAs and other accounting professionals with the information and news to enable them to be successful accountants, managers, and executives in today's practice environments.

©2009 The New York State Society of CPAs. Legal Notices

  

Visit the new cpajournal.com.