All Accounting & Auditing articles – Page 91
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Blog
Lawyers see varied approaches to related-party rule
Image: Attorneys at law firm Dorsey observing compliance with the new audit standard on related-party transactions say they are seeing some companies being asked to make no changes to their controls and procedures while others face new audit demands to expand their questionnaires to directors and officers. “The required changes ...
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Blog
FASB, SEC offer new insights on XBRL
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has made some changes to the Development Taxonomy for any early adopters of FASB’s new standard on the recognition and measurement of financial instruments, adding elements that companies can use in submitting their financial statements in XBRL. The newest guide is the latest in a ...
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Article
Financial world braces for expected credit loss rule
A pending new requirement for how banks should write down the value of troubled loans is providing a ringside seat for those in capital markets who want to understand how or why accounting and auditing are becoming more difficult by the day. FASB met with the Independent Community Bankers of ...
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Blog
Pressure builds on FASB as it finalizes lease standard
As the Financial Accounting Standards Board dries the ink on its pending new lease accounting standard that will bring lease assets and liabilities on to corporate balance sheets, more than a dozen trade and professional groups are making an eleventh-hour appeal for FASB to exempt private companies. The groups, which ...
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Article
Mitigating auditor liability
Image: Audit committee and external auditors who fail to reasonably carry out their responsibilities increasingly are finding themselves in the crosshairs of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Over the past few years, the staff has really put a lot of focus into financial reporting and auditing enforcement matters. That means ...
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Blog
IIA calls for bold moves in latest "Pulse" report
Internal audit leaders are becoming alarmed with their latest survey results that suggest the internal audit profession is not moving as nimbly as they’d like to address emerging business risks. A report from the Institute of Internal Auditors says 89 percent of organizations polled see prevention and education as the ...
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Blog
FASB hits pause on revenue recognition disclosure provision
Image: FASB met recently to consider proposed guidance around collectibility, non-cash consideration, contract modifications, and more. It did not come to a final decision, however, on whether to add a practical expedient to certain disclosure requirements regarding remaining performance obligations. FASB member Marc Siegel offered some concern: “We tried to ...
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Blog
Monsanto settles $80 million accounting charges with SEC
Image: Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, Monsanto Co. has agreed to an $80 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over charges that it failed to properly report millions of dollars in rebates related to its Roundup weedkiller product line. “This type of conduct, which fails to recognize expenses ...
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Article
The new VIE evaluation process is here, but what does it really change?
Image: With yet another change in the guidance on when a company needs to consolidate a particular entity onto its balance sheet, all public companies need to walk through a new evaluation process in the first quarter, even if it doesn’t change the outcome. “It is a thicket,” says Adam ...
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Blog
FASB Takes Heat on Impairment Proposal
Image: FASB is facing some fresh political pressure from Congress, this time to answer the outcry of smaller financial institutions objecting to the planned change to financial instrument impairment rules. According to FASB Chairman Russ Golden, a recent open meeting on the topic of impairment produced “insightful discussion that resulted ...
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BlogFASB Proposes Eight New Cash Flow Classification Rules
Current accounting rules are either unclear or silent on how to classify cash flows in certain instances, so FASB is proposing an update to the Accounting Standards Codification to fill the gaps. The board is looking to clarify several issues with such transactions as debt prepayments, settlement of zero-coupon bonds, ...
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Blog
IIA Seeks to Raise Bar on Internal Audit Practices
The Institute of Internal Auditors is proposing a change to its professional practice standards to give internal auditors some new guidance in light of evolving business demands. The IIA says the proposed changes are focused on enhancing existing standards on communications and quality assurance, and creating new standards addressing objectivity ...
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Article
Revenue recognition: full retrospective, modified retrospective, or somewhere in-between
Companies looking to implement the new revenue standard are faced with the difficult choice of going full retrospective, modified retrospective, or somewhere in-between. Those at the forefront of implementing the standard are starting to favor the idea of presenting three complete years of historical data under the new rules, but ...
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Blog
SEC Nudges Companies on XBRL Calculation Relationships
The SEC has updated its ongoing “Frequently Asked Questions” document on interactive data disclosures to address when calculation relationships, which provide key information to show relationships among elements and their corresponding numeric facts, are required in XBRL filings. The FAQs come in response to the SEC’s issuance of a “Dear ...
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Blog
IIA Offers Latest Intelligence on Outsourcing Functions
As talent and staffing challenges persist for the internal audit profession, 43 percent of public companies other than those in financial services reached outside the organization for help, according to the latest data from the Institute of Internal Auditors. Financial institutions, public and private alike, make the greatest use of ...
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Blog
Where Audits Go Awry, Internal Control Audit is Faulty Too, Analysis Shows
Image: Big 4 firms exhibited problems in 35 percent of all audit engagements inspected in 2014, and a whopping 84 percent of those deficient audits involved problems with internal control over financial reporting, according to an analysis by Dan Goelzer, a former member and acting chair of the PCAOB. The ...
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Blog
FASB Proposes Changes to Pension Accounting, Disclosures
For companies that still carry defined benefit pension plans, FASB is proposing an update to accounting standards to require companies to separate the service cost from other components of the net benefit cost for purposes of presenting it in financial statements. The proposal outlines specific guidance on how to break ...
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Blog
What Does Good Compliance Look Like? Internal Audit Can Help
Board audit committees and compliance professionals should review new compliance guidance provided in a recent speech by assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell, chief of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. Along with the DoJ’s appointment of a “compliance counsel” this guidance presented so-called “metrics” to apply when evaluating programs ...
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Article
Companies Prep for FASB’s New Take on Leases
Still knee-deep in preparing for the massive new revenue recognition standard, public companies have plenty of reason to start revving up now for another major accounting change on the horizon—the new leasing standard. “As soon as possible—even prior to the issuance of the new leases standard—preparers should consider creating a ...
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Blog
Internal Controls Trump New Rules in List of Worries, KPMG Finds
According to a recent KPMG poll, continued pressure on internal control over financial reporting is the most pressing concern for financial reporting executives. Nearly one-third of 400 respondents, or 31 percent, said internal controls are at the top of their worry list beyond their basic financial reporting responsibilities. One-fourth, or ...