(The news featured below is a selection from the news covered in Federal Securities Law Reporter, which is distributed to subscribers of Federal Securities Law Reporter.)

Audit Firm Charged with Independence Violations

The SEC charged a national accounting firm with violations of auditor independence standards. As alleged, the firm, through one of its national office partners, compromised its professional independence by assisting a client in its development and marketing of an accounting-driven financial product. The firm then allegedly advised an audit client on the accounting treatment for a version of that product without performing a meaningful analysis of the accounting. The financial product purported to enable a company to transfer volatile financial assets to a special purpose entity and remove those assets from the company's financial statements. The SEC censured the firm and ordered disgorgement.

Release No. 34-55523 will be published in a forthcoming Report.