All Accounting & Auditing articles – Page 89
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Blog
FASB offers guidance on hedge accounting complexities
Image: Hedge accounting can help organizations manage exposures that range from changing interest rates to counterparty credit risk. But the rules that govern hedge accounting are extremely detailed and require close compliance consideration. CW columnist Robert Herz discusses how, with new regulations proposed, things are only going to get more ...
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Article
New accounting rules aim to make change for unredeemed gift cards
Everybody has an unspent gift card or two around the house. Maybe you just never got to the store to use it, or maybe there’s only got a few dollars left on it and it would feel like a pain to zero it out. But unspent cards like these are ...
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Blog
FASB plans new discussion on credit impairment effective date, guidance
Image: FASB is reconsidering the planned effective date for the final standard on credit impaiment and is promising clarifications after concerns were raised by community bankers and credit unions over whether the requirements would lead to difficult and costly accounting processes and procedures. FASB Chairman Russ Golden said the board ...
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Blog
ISACA provides guide to planning an information system audit
Internal auditors looking to get more involved in information systems audits can turn to a new white paper titled Information Systems Auditing Tools and Techniques: Creating Audit Programs, from ISACA, a global global association of professionals focused on IS audit and control. The paper outlines five steps auditors should take ...
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Blog
FASB simplifies share-based payment accounting
Image: FASB has issued new guidance to smooth over several rough spots in the requirements around stock compensation, such as how to account for the tax consequences of share-based payments, classification of the awards as either equity or liability, and classification on the statement of cash flow. Chairman Russ Golden ...
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Blog
SEC staff call out custom axis tag use in XBRL filings
The SEC is advising companies to take a careful look at their use of axis tags in their XBRL filings. The SEC has been studying corporate filings from 2013 to 2015 in the “XBRL format looking for problems that lead to data quality concerns, with axis tags being one such ...
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Article
SEC fines energy company $300K over rubber stamp internal controls
Image: A recent SEC action against a company for maintaining insufficient internal controls signals a new effort from federal authorities to hold companies to higher standards when it comes to internal control material weaknesses and significant deficiencies. “This is a case that doesn’t have a punchline,” says Tom Sporkin, a ...
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Blog
The auditor as behavioral scientist
Image: Inside, CW columnist Jose Tabuena examines the power of data analytics and predictive models to assess compliance effectiveness and encourage employees toward acting responsibly, thereby ensuring an ethical workplace. But, Tabuena advises, keep in mind that predictive models only yield benefits if used appropriately.
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Blog
In defense of auditors
Companies do a lot of complaining about auditors, but it seems like the auditor is in a no-win situation. In an attempt to get auditor and client on the same page, CW’s Scott Taub covers a few of the most common complaints about auditors, along with a few thoughts on ...
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Resource
e-Book: Modern Technology: Changing the Face of Audit
Advanced IT to improve monitoring and testing exists, but integrating those solutions into corporate data warehouses and business operations is harder than first thought. In this e-Book, produced by Compliance Week in cooperation with Workiva, we look at how companies can effectively revisit ERP systems or try new software.Also, now ...
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Blog
New restatement data show differences across audit firms
Research from Audit Analytics shows that even among the Big 4 there are differences in how likely a given filing will lead to a restatement. Big 4 firms were behind 44 material restatements out of 4,454 filings, for a rate of 0.99 percent. Among national firms Grant Thornton, BDO USA, ...
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Blog
FASB appoints transition group for pending credit loss standard
Image: FASB has seated a Transition Resource Group to help implement the pending standard on credit losses that will include 16 bigwigs from accounting firms PwC, KPMG, EY, Deloitte, Grant Thornton, and Crowe Horwath, as well as banking and insurance entities. The group, which will be chaired by FASB member ...
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Blog
Study links audit staffing to audit quality
Recent academic research from professors at the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University finds where audit engagement workload is high, companies have significantly higher abnormal discretionary accruals, are more likely to restate earnings, and are less likely to get a going concern opinion even when signs of distress are ...
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Article
Internal audit joins the fight against cyber-threats
As organizations face ever-increasing cyber-security threats, experts are prodding internal auditors to get more involved in at least identifying the risks, even if they aren’t information technology experts. Basic compliance practices can significantly reduce a company’s cyber-exposure, but it needs somebody to drive the effort.
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Blog
Toshiba faces U.S. accounting probe
Tokyo-based electronics maker Toshiba confirmed that it is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged accounting irregularities. Toshiba’s disclosure about the U.S. investigation follows media reports that U.S. regulators are investigating allegations that Toshiba’s U.S.-based nuclear business division, Westinghouse, hid $1.3 ...
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Blog
FASB complete gross versus net guidance for revenue recognition
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued an update to accounting standards meant to put to rest any confusion that may still exist on how to apply the principal-versus-agent guidance in the new revenue recognition rule.
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Blog
FASB issues new rules on gift cards, hedging, equity investments
FASB has issued guidance that enables companies to write off lingering gift card liabilities, shore up hedge accounting practice differences, and simplify transitions to equity method accounting. Crowe Horwath Partner James Dolinar says the guidance around gift cards is perhaps the most broadly applicable, as companies can now do some ...
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Blog
Experts advise companies to brace for goodwill impairment scrutiny
Image: Calcbench, with their research tool powered by XBRL-gathered financial statement data, identified a number of companies posting quarterly goodwill impairments in the range of $250 million for five consecutive quarters, including Yahoo’s massive $4.46 billion impairment charge. “The total number … is trending up, from the mid-teens last year ...
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Article
New accounting standard for leases brings numerous compliance concerns
As public companies face a 2019 deadline for a new accounting standard that brings leases onto corporate balance sheets, compliance officers will have to consider a long list of implementation decisions and business implications, says Tammy Whitehouse.
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Blog
SEC approves PCAOB budget; Doty promises new proposals soon
Image: With majority support from the SEC—all two of them, that is—the PCAOB has finalized its 2016 budget with a 12-percent increase in fees charged to public companies to support it. Only SEC Chair Mary Jo White and Commissioner Kara Stein supported the PCAOB’s $257.7 million budget for the current ...