All Accounting & Auditing articles – Page 97
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Blog
McGladrey Backslides in Latest PCAOB Inspection
Of inspections performed in 2014 on McGladrey’s 2013 financial statements, the PCAOB found that seven of the 15 audits failed to meet auditing standards. One particularly problematic audit for McGladrey involving failures in auditing inventory led to six separate violations of auditing standards. The majority of audit mistakes occurred in ...
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Article
Today’s Revenue Rule Surprise: Non-Financial Assets
Image: Companies are starting to awaken to yet another wrinkle in the new revenue recognition standard: how it will affect the sale of non-financial assets, such as when you sell off an old property or intangible asset. “If you’re not in the real estate business, you don’t think of the ...
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Blog
A Focus on Transparency—of Auditing
Expect lots of talk about transparency into auditing this fall. The SEC and PCAOB both have proposals to expand the disclosure to investors of how audits work, and what roles audit firms and audit committees play. Substantive changes are almost certainly coming, columnist Scott Taub says, so it’s time to ...
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Managing Outside Counsel: How Internal Audit Can Assist
Litigation and compliance risk brings something else beyond headaches: legal fees. The internal audit team can help there, even with tricky tasks such as monitoring the performance of outside counsel while they conduct an investigation. Inside, columnist Jose Tabuena offers recommendations on benchmarking what internal audit can do, analytics to ...
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SEC Frets Over Split in Revenue Recognition Adoption Efforts
Image: Looking for consistency in application of the new revenue recognition standard, SEC Deputy Chief Accountant Wesley Bricker said companies need to do their homework and apply appropriate professional judgment. Bricker called on companies to move forward with implementation efforts “without delay” by understanding the key principles of the new ...
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Blog
New Tipalti W-8 Solution Fully Integrates With Global Payments
Tipalti, a global payments management platform provider, has fully integrated the first-ever intelligent Form W-8 collection solution into its platform. The solution helps U.S. companies automate the accounts payable process by both paying suppliers who are nonresidents, foreign alien or entities while ensuring W-8 tax form compliance. Details inside.
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Blog
SEC Calls for Attention to Credit Impairment Rules
Image: With a new standard expected before the end of the year to change the way financial institutions account for credit impairments, the SEC will be looking for strong processes and controls around critical judgments. Recently, SEC Chief Accountant James Schnurr told accountants at a conference to get ready to ...
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Doty Supporters Tell SEC: Let PCAOB Chair Stay Seated
Image: In response to SEC Chair Mary Jo White’s recent remarks that the SEC might replace Jim Doty as chairman of the PCAOB, nearly 30 individuals with heavy credentials in financial reporting from numerous policymaking groups fired off a letter to White, stumping for Doty’s reappointment. They credit Doty with ...
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PCAOB Defends Regulatory Approach Amid Persistent Problems
PCAOB Chairman Jim Doty said recently he will meet with the U.S. Chamber of Congress if participants will discuss their own direct experiences with complaints outlined in the Chamber’s 19-page letter calling for a new inspections approach. “Hearsay is not helpful. We want to know where preparers really have been ...
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Article
Lease Modifications Trigger New Headaches
Image: Beware when negotiating with your landlord: Accountants are noticing an uptick in lease modifications and are warning companies to heed the accounting and financial reporting consequences. The nuances of lease accounting are many and even trip up large retailers. That can be especially true when your lease negotiators are ...
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Blog
Doty Projects Year-End Completion of Engagement Partner ID
Image: More than a decade after regulators began mulling how to give some transparency to investors around who actually performs public company audits, PCAOB Chairman James Doty said he is hopeful that the board is on track to “get this done by the end of the year.” Doty recently said ...
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Blog
EY Finds More Voluntary Audit Committee Disclosures
According to a recent report from EY, audit committees for the largest companies continue to raise the bar on what they voluntarily say in their reports about their responsibility for and oversight of the external audit. In its analysis, EY says 21 percent of audit committees disclosed in 2015 that ...
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Article
Audit Fees Are Up; What’s Interesting Is Why
Audit fees are rising—which you probably already knew—but the latest data on audit fees raises questions about what’s behind that increase. PCAOB audit firm inspections are part of it; but many big jumps in fees seem due to external events like a merger more than vigorous audits for SOX compliance, ...
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Blog
FASB Plans Disclosure Changes for Uncertain Tax Positions
FASB has tentatively decided to revise disclosure of uncertain tax positions, by dropping the current requirement for companies to disclose the nature and estimate of the range for a reasonably possible change in the unrecognized tax benefit balance in the next 12 months. More inside.
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Blog
FASB Explains Changes to 2016 GAAP Taxonomy
FASB has issued notes explaining the changes to the proposed 2016 XBRL taxonomy, including simplifying the income statement and the presentation of debt issuance costs, among other changes. “While some of these changes may impact a significant number of filers, the feedback received from constituents was to eliminate inconsistencies and ...
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Blog
FASB Proposes Gross-Net Guidance on Revenue Recognition
FASB has proposed an update to its revenue recognition standard to clarify when an entity is acting as the principal in its interaction with a customer or when it is an agent for some other entity, helping a company determine if it should recognize revenue on a gross or net ...
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Article
Feel the Churn: Big 4 Get Squeezed on Audit Engagements
Image: The Big 4 audit firms have lost more audit clients this year than they have gained, and second-tier firms seem to be picking them up. That churn is probably due to a variety of factors, from cost to PCAOB inspection reports to ease of working relationship, but the overall ...
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Blog
FASB, Congressman Dispute Lease Standard’s Economic Effect
Image: FASB is pressing on with its planned fourth-quarter release of the final new accounting standard on leasing despite House Financial Services Committee member Brad Sherman’s (left) plea to FASB Chairman Russ Golden to consider analysis that says the standard will exact a heavy toll on the U.S. economy. Golden ...
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Blog
Audit Fee Data Reveals New Departure from Non-Audit Services
According to a recent Audit Analytics study of fees paid in 2014 by 2,300 accelerated filers, 80.3 percent were focused on the integrated financial statement internal control audit; fees for non-audit services dipped to 19.7 percent of the total bill from the audit firm, a drop from 20 percent during ...
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Blog
Study Shows Better Audit Reports Lead to Better Audits
Expanded audit reports and audit committee reports have led to better audits in the United Kingdom, according to new research, perhaps because expanded reporting has given auditors more leverage over financial statement assertions. The authors of the study said the new U.K. reporting requirements led to better-quality audits, as measured ...