All Accounting & Auditing articles – Page 101
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Article
Q&A: The Battle for Better Disclosure Data
Image: As part of our ongoing series of conversations with compliance and risk experts, we spoke with Hudson Hollister, founder and executive director, Data Transparency Coalition, a trade association pursuing the publication of government information as standardized, machine-readable data. Hollister talks about the SEC’s efforts to modernize its disclosure regime ...
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Blog
Ipreo Launches Corporate Governance Solution
Ipreo, a global provider of market intelligence and productivity solutions to corporate and financial services professionals, recently announced the launch of a new corporate governance solution that combines institutional data and analytics with workflow tools that enable better collaboration between the corporate secretary and the investor relations function at public ...
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Blog
SEC Weighs In on New Debt Cost Presentation Guidance
The SEC is signaling a solution to companies struggling with how to reflect certain debt issuance costs under new guidance from the Financial Accounting Standards Board. During a recent meeting, the Commission acknowledged that FASB’s update doesn’t provide guidance on costs related to debt arrangements. Details inside.
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Blog
Big 4 Make Big Gains in Consulting Services, Report Says
Image: According to a new report from Source Information Services, Big 4 accounting firms outperformed the U.S. market in 2014, growing 12.8 percent to $17.5 billion in revenue compared with 2.4 percent growth for the economy overall. The U.S. market for consulting grew 9 percent in 2014 to more than ...
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Blog
Companies Pause on New Discontinued Operations Rule
Image: Companies are hitting bumps as they attempt to apply FASB’s new approach to defining discontinued operations. The standard says a discontinued operation is a major strategic shift and has a major impact on the entity, although it doesn’t provide guidance on how to define those terms, says Beth Paul, ...
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Blog
SEC Might Explore Auditor Tenure for Audit Committee Disclosure
Image: When the SEC issues its audit committee discussion paper, it likely will explore more on the audit firm’s tenure and naming engagement partners. As the PCAOB has tried to get consensus on these themes, the board has heard pushback that the disclosure is better placed in audit committee reports, ...
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Article
Financial Compliance Teams Await Tech Help on Revenue Rule
Improved technology for financial systems will be critical as Corporate America moves to implement the impending new revenue recognition standard. That new tech, however, is slow-rolling its way to your data center, since the standard’s final guidance is still incomplete. “We knew going in we were not playing on a ...
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Blog
McGladrey Adopts New Name: RSM
McGladrey announced this week that it will adopt RSM as a common brand name, uniting with fellow firms of its global network RSM International, a network of independent audit, tax and advisory firms, encompassing over 110 countries, 730 offices and more than 37,500 people internationally.
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Blog
IRS Ponders Tax Issues of New Revenue Recognition Rules
The Internal Revenue Service is asking for comments on how the new revenue recognition accounting standards will affect tax reporting. Tax rules require companies to secure permission from the IRS if they are making accounting method changes for federal income tax purposes, so the agency is now growing concerned over ...
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Blog
Technology-Assisted Review Gains Steam to Aid Discovery
Image: The use of technology-assisted review to accelerate document-laden legal proceedings is picking up, with courts, regulators, and plaintiffs alike wanting to resolve disputes more efficiently and more accurately. David Remnitz, a forensic technology leader for EY who helped author a handbook on the practice, says there’s been a huge ...
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Blog
Former KPMG Partner Scott London out of prison, back to work
Scott London—the former KPMG partner who pleaded guilty to insider trading in June 2013 and was sentenced to serve 14 months in prison in April 2014—is out of prison and back to work. London is now employed as the assistant to the CFO of a computer company.
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Article
ITT Complaint Shows Off-Balance-Sheet Woes Aren’t Off-Stage Yet
An SEC lawsuit against ITT Educational Services could shape up to be another textbook case of what goes wrong when companies try to deal with problematic accounting away from the eye of investors. The problem this time: off-balance sheet vehicles that masked ITT’s defaulting student loans. Where were the auditors? ...
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Blog
Improving EITF to Improve Accounting Practice
FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force turns 30 this year, and with that comes its third 10-year review of how the EITF should consider new accounting issues. This week, columnist Robert Herz offers his thoughts on where the EITF can improve, including what issues it addresses and voting practices to make ...
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Blog
FASB Proposes Changes to Stock Compensation, Equity Method Rules
FASB is proposing updates to accounting standards that would target complexity in the accounting for stock compensation plans and the equity method of accounting. The board has proposed eight measures to revise requirements around income tax consequences, classification of cash flows, and more. In addition, FASB seeks to eliminate the ...
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Blog
Argument for Small-Company Compliance Exemptions
Image: Smaller public companies regularly lament that the costs of regulatory compliance are disproportionately large for them and serve little useful purpose for their investors. Sometimes those complaints aren’t worth more than a good eyeroll—but sometimes they have merit. This week, Editor Matt Kelly tells the tale of yet another ...
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Blog
SEC Settles Fraud Charges at Tech Firm
Computer Science Corp. has agreed to pay $190 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company and former executives concealed from investors problems with a high-profile client and manipulated financial results, in addition to fudging with accounting at overseas units.
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Blog
Audit Committees Get Fresh Tips on Evaluating Auditors
Image: The Audit Committee Collaboration, backed by seven groups with various missions around corporate governance and investor advocacy, has updated its External Auditor Assessment Tool, tips to help audit committees conduct their evaluation of external auditors. Cindy Fornelli, executive director of the Center for Audit Quality, says the tool “can ...
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Blog
Deloitte Inspection Report Shows Reduced Audit Deficiencies
PCAOB audit inspectors found fault with 21 percent of the audits inspected at Deloitte in 2014, lower than any rate delivered for any major firm since 2009 and lower than Deloitte’s failure rate from one year ago. The report also revealed a new format for PCAOB inspection reports. More inside.
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Article
More Hints at More Audit Committee Disclosure
Image: The SEC plans a concept release “soon” that could modernize audit committee disclosures for the first time in years, including touchy subjects like naming the audit engagement partner. Expect awkward questions to follow about how audit firms are hired and perform the work they do. “This foreshadows what I ...
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Blog
PCAOB Considers Standard on Using Specialists’ Work
Image: The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued a staff consultation paper looking for input on whether and how to revise standards around the auditor’s use of the work of specialists. PCAOB Chairman James Doty said, “We want our standards to keep pace with the realities in the marketplace, ...