All articles by Tammy Whitehouse – Page 47
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Blog
Consortium, Filing Agencies Form XBRL Quality Initiative
If the Securities and Exchange Commission is dragging its heels on enforcing the quality of data gathered through XBRL, then the market will do what it can to enhance quality on its own.
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Blog
IT Pros Dread Prospect of Compliance Audits
Image: Corporate IT teams aren’t prepared to face a compliance audit. In fact, nearly half of respondents to a recent survey said they would rather have a root canal, work over a holiday, live without electricity for a week, or even eat a live jellyfish. “Companies talk about the importance ...
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Blog
FASB, IASB Work Out Guidance on Gross vs. Net
FASB and IASB have reached tentative decisions on how to address questions in the new revenue standard around when to report revenue on a gross versus net basis. While the boards are moving in different directions of how they will amend their respective guidance, FASB says the amendments to each ...
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Article
Revisiting Financial IT for Better Monitoring, Testing, Compliance
A funny thing happened on the way to the Shangri-La of automated monitoring and testing: It didn’t happen—at least, not yet. Advanced IT to improve monitoring and testing exists, but integrating those solutions into corporate data warehouses and business operations is harder than first thought. Inside, a look at how ...
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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
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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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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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
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
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, ...
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Blog
Errors Persist Into 2014 Year-End XBRL Filings
Image: With another round of annual reports mostly filed through the early part of 2015, experts are assessing the quality of XBRL filings—and seeing not much improvement. Scale errors continue to be the most common problem, says Alex Rapp, co-founder of Calcbench. “Unfortunately, many filers don’t appear to realize this ...
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Article
Audit Relations Continue to Be Strained
Image: Tensions over the audit of internal controls over financial reporting were in focus at the Compliance Week 2015 conference last week, with many saying corporate audit committees will ultimately need to resolve the problem. “We hear the concerns, even frustrations, from company officials over the level of audit work ...