Weekly News Round Up: CFOs Taking Over the Role of COO; Empowered Compliance and the SEC; and Gaps In Audits of Controls

Welcome to the Weekly News Round Up from the SC&H blog.  Each week, we showcase a series of news stories that span everything from government contracting to personal finance to state and local tax issues.

This week, we have compiled stories about how CFOs are taking over the COO role in many large companies, insights into empowered compliance from the SEC and a report that shows gaps in audits of controls.

CFOs Taking On Double Duty Role

More and more companies are eliminating the COO position — and handing operating duties to the CFO.

IRS Bars Employers From Dumping Workers Into Health Exchanges

Many employers had thought they could shift health costs to the government by sending their employees to a health insurance exchange with a tax-free contribution of cash to help pay the premiums, but the Obama administration has squelched the idea in a new ruling.

SEC Enforcement Director: What Empowered Compliance Looks Like

During a keynote speech at the Compliance Week 2014 conference, SEC Enforcement Director Andrew Ceresney provided some insight on what an empowered compliance function looks like.

2013 Reports Will Show Progress, but Gaps in Audit of Controls Remain

The next round of audit inspection reports will show leading audit firms have made progress in their audit of internal controls over financial reporting, but often are still missing the final step in assuring controls are effective, according to the PCAOB.

IRS Oversight Board Opposes Private Debt Collectors

The IRS Oversight Board has sent a letter to the leaders of Congress’ main tax committees urging them not to re-instate a privatized tax debt collection program.

AICPA Proposes Changes in Peer Review Standards

The AICPA has issued an exposure draft proposing changes in its standards for performing and reporting on peer reviews and engagement reviews of CPA firms.