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Columns By Former SEC Chief Accountant Scott Taub

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The former deputy chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Scott Taub spent more than four years at the SEC, including a year as acting chief accountant. In his tenure there, he played a key role in the Commission’s implementation of the accounting reforms under the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley Act. He is an observer on FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force, and chair of the accounting and disclosure standing committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions. Some of Taub’s most recent columns for Compliance Week are below:

  Title & Description Date Type of Article
1. How the PCAOB Fares After Five Years on the Job
It has been more than six years since the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, five years since the Securities and Exchange Commission declared the PCAOB operational, and four years since the PCAOB started its first inspections of registered public accounting firms. The PCAOB’s work, in combination with other changes in the capital markets, has significantly increased confidence in financial statement audits. And the PCAOB board members and staff have shown themselves to be capable, dedicated, and devoted to their important public policy role.
 By Scott Taub
09/30/08 Compliance Week Coverage
2. Reaching a Fair Settlement on Fair Value
In the year I’ve been writing for Compliance Week, one subject I haven’t broached is fair-value accounting. I'm not alone; the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee to Improve Financial Reporting has decided not to touch it either, while offering recommendations on all manner of other nettlesome problems. Nonetheless, the debate continues over fair value versus historical cost accounting. Since I’ve seemingly heard every argument on all sides of this debate, it’s probably time for me to speak up, too.
 By Scott Taub
07/29/08 Columns & Editorials
3. CIFR Reforms: What’s Right, What’s Left Out
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting has kept itself busy this spring. In February, it issued a progress report that summarized its potential recommendations to simplify financial reporting; in March and May, it held follow-up meetings to discuss those ideas more thoroughly. I’ve already written about CIFR’s recommendation regarding a professional judgment framework, but there are a lot of other interesting potential recommendations that deserve some consideration, too—not just from the members of the committee, but also from Compliance Week readers.
 By Scott Taub
05/28/08 Columns & Editorials
4. Judgment Call: How to Make the Most of CIFR Proposal
Financial reporting is much more useful when those preparing the financial statements apply their expertise and judgment in an attempt to reflect the business in the most meaningful way. But in the difficult litigation and regulatory environment that has enveloped the accounting profession most of this decade, many accountants associate applying judgment with playing Russian roulette and would rather follow rules—formal or informal—instead.
 By Scott Taub
03/25/08 Columns & Editorials
5. So You Think You Know the SEC ...
The last year since I left the Securities and Exchange Commission has been a real eye-opener for me in lots of ways.
 By Scott Taub
01/29/08 Columns & Editorials
6. The Real Enemy of Financial Reporting: Us
In December 2005, while I was Acting Chief Accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and I both spoke about reducing the complexity of financial reporting. We weren’t the first to mention this, and we weren’t the last, as the topic has been continually discussed in the two years since. In my current job, at least several times a week, either I remark or my client remarks about how complicated the accounting is. The responses to the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s annual survey of constituents about its agenda contain repeated requests to simplify accounting standards. FASB, the SEC and its staff, preparers, auditors, and investors alike have been asking for requirements to be made simpler, more transparent, and easier to understand. And I would guess everybody reading this article is in favor of reducing complexity in financial reporting.
 By Scott Taub
11/27/07 Columns & Editorials
7. IFRS and GAAP: The Good and the Bad
For decades, we in the United States have generally believed that our accounting standards are the best in the world. Much of the rest of the world has reinforced that view by accepting financial statements prepared under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for use in their markets. But International Financial Reporting Standards are now accepted or required in more than 100 countries. The United States is virtually the only developed market that does not accept financial statements prepared under IFRS.
 By Scott Taub
09/25/07 Columns & Editorials
8. Setting Testing Levels For 404 Compliance
I was acting chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission in May 2003 when the Commission’s first set of rules implementing the provisions of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act—the section that requires management and auditor reporting on internal controls—were passed. No other part of SOX has generated nearly as much controversy, anger, frustration, or backlash. On the other hand, no part of SOX has as much potential to contribute to investor confidence and high-quality financial reporting over the long term as Section 404.
 By Scott Taub
07/31/07 Compliance Week Coverage
9. Avoiding Unnecessary Restatements
There are too many restatements. I’d wager that everybody reading this column agrees with those first five words, and that’s why I used them to start off my first column for Compliance Week.
 By Scott Taub
05/08/07 Columns & Editorials

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