Новости

Russia still failing to turn “Skolkovo” into a known brand name

The task set by Russian president Medvedev to turn “Skolkovo” into a globally recognized brand name is quite logical and understandable, although it is not that easy to implement it in practice. For that, Russia should not only learn how to create new brand names, but learn how to sell them as well. At the moment, what is Russia associated with is the Kalashnikov rifle, vodka and Putin.

Russian auto insurers will be divided into 5 risk groups

Starting from 1 July the Russian Union of Auto Insurers will divide all participants of this market into 5 groups relatively to the level of risk they bear. This will influence limits on insurance contracts they set for their clients. The new rules will make evaluation of financial stability of auto insurers much easier.  

HSBC abandoning retail services in Russia

HSBC has made a decision to abandon retail and private banking in Russia and to concentrate on corporate and investment banking instead. The corresponding announcement was placed at the bank’s official website yesterday.

Industry disapproves of IFRS accounting proposals

Just a quarter of the UK pensions industry supports plans to make all schemes compliant with International Financial Reporting Standards, a poll shows.

Debate over value of SME audits rages

The debate over the value of audit for SMEs has been stoked by business secretary Vince Cable’s calls to raise the threshold in a bid to relieve smaller outfits of the financial and administrative burden of statutory audit.

SEC Report Recommends No New SOX 404(b) Exemptions

An SEC study of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes Oxley Act recommends no new exemptions to the requirements. The study by the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant was mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Its scope was restricted to companies with a market capitalization between $75 million and $250 million.

Greece does debt restructuring

Greece intends to restructure its debt by asking to defer payments for 5 years - informed global media sources on Friday.

Antimonopoly service of Russia wants to fight with cartels globally

The “third antimonopoly package” is being prepared today and is expected to be introduced to the government within a couple of weeks - informed chairman of Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) Igor Artemiev. Instead of formerly expected liberalization the law project will bring new requirement to participants of financial markets.

Lehman and the reform of audit. Now!

One thing that the Lehman/Ernst & Young debacle has done is kick off the debate over audit once again, whether audit should be doing something different, whether the market needs reform, whether we have enough global auditors.

FASB Issues Proposed Accounting Standards Update on Testing Goodwill for Impairment

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today issued an Exposure Draft of a proposed Accounting Standards Update (Update) intended to simplify how an entity is required to test goodwill for impairment.