All articles by Tammy Whitehouse – Page 48
-
Article
COSO Implementation Gets Gritty
Whether you adopted the new COSO framework for internal control last year or stalled into 2015, a chorus of voices say now is the time for implementation (or even polishing last year’s implementation) once and for all. “This year is the time to adopt,” says KPMG partner David Middendorf. Inside, ...
-
Blog
FASB Proposes Simplification to M&A Accounting
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is proposing a change to the rules around how to adjust provisional amounts recorded at the time of a transaction to simplify the accounting for business combinations. FASB says stakeholders say current rules are costly and complicated and don’t significantly improve the information available to ...
-
Article
PCAOB to Audit Committees: Help Us Help You
Image: The PCAOB’s latest guidance to audit committees will help them understand how to push their audit firms to dig deeper into risk. It may also, however, nudge audit committees to undertake risk and audit oversight the PCAOB itself cannot do. “In places like China, the PCAOB cannot inspect, but ...
-
Blog
Revenue Recognition Implementation Brings Big Challenges
Companies in the vanguard of implementing the new revenue recognition standard are finding it a daunting task requiring major planning and coordination. At the Compliance Week 2015 conference, Bavan Holloway, vice president of corporate audit at Boeing, said companies need to have a strong change management process in place. “It’s ...
-
Blog
Compliance Leaders Like Three Lines of Defense
Image: At Compliance Week’s annual conference this week, Jose Tabuena, chief compliance officer for NextHealth, advocated for the three lines of defense model. “I’ve worked with the accounting firms and those working with the COSO framework, and I find three lines of defense easier to explain,” he said. “The board ...
-
Blog
FASB Proposes Changes to Revenue Standard
FASB has issued proposed revisions to the revenue recognition standard intended to head off the potential for varied interpretation of the standard and to simplify and reduce the cost of compliance in some areas. The board has focused the amendments on identifying performance obligations and accounting for revenue arising from ...
-
Article
IIA to Push More Flexible Internal Audit Planning
Image: The Institute of Internal Auditors will unveil an overhaul of its professional practices framework this summer, including a push for audit executives to be more flexible in their audit planning. Whether that means a “rolling audit plan,” contingency funds for surprise risks, or other methods, many say the idea’s ...
-
Blog
Investors Protest Private Company Standards
Efforts on the part of standard-setters to wring some complexity out of financial reporting might be helpful to preparers of financial statements, but investors are starting to pipe up in protest.
-
Blog
SEC Chief Accountant Retreats From IFRS Filing Idea
Image: SEC chief accountant James Schnurr is distancing himself from an idea he floated last year that the Commission might allow U.S. companies an option to report under International Financial Reporting Standards. Schnurr says staff outreach revealed “little support” for that idea, essentially leaving convergence to standard setters. Details inside.
-
Blog
PCAOB Gives Audit Committees Oversight Cheat Sheet
As inspectors begin looking at 2014 public company audit files, they will be tuning in to emerging market risks around mergers and acquisitions, falling oil prices, undistributed foreign earnings, and the quality of audit work as firms grow other business lines. The PCAOB published a new paper reaching out to ...
-
Blog
FASB Issues New Rules, Proposals on Narrow Areas of GAAP
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has been busy the past few weeks pushing out some narrowly focused changes to accounting standards that address earnings per share, fair value measurement, intangible assets, and compensation, not to mention additional proposals involving liabilities associated with gift cards, hedging for energy concerns, and benefit ...
-
Article
Parsing the Data on Financial Restatements
Image: The data behind financial restatements tell a fairly positive tale for 2014, with improvements in financial reporting across many variables (unless you’re an accelerated filer, where restatements edged up from the prior year). Inside we have a close look at which companies restated for what reasons, and whether improvement ...
-
Blog
FASB Plans Next Phase of Big Accounting Changes
Image: As FASB wraps up some major projects in coming months, it is starting to wonder: what’s next? The board plans to publish a discussion paper seeking input on what revisions should be added to the agenda, but it will likely focus on clarifications to revenue recognition, income taxes, business ...
-
Blog
FASB Seeks Comment on Revenue Delay, IASB Opts to Defer
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a formal proposal to delay the effective date of the revenue recognition rule by one year, just as the International Accounting Standards Board voted to propose a one-year deferral for the international standard. FASB’s proposal is seeking comment on whether a two-year delay ...
-
Blog
Study: Disclosing Control Weaknesses Does You Few Favors
Companies that disclose control problems ahead of restatements get no pat on the back or other indicators of gratitude from investors, according to a recent academic study. On the contrary, they are more likely to face harsher consequences for their transparency than companies that provide no advance warning. More inside.
-
Article
Audit Litigation Risk Down, but Not Out
The respite from litigation that audit firms have enjoyed the past few years may be ending. A recent study found class-action lawsuits alleging accounting improprieties rose in 2014 after two of the lightest years in the past decade. While only a tiny fraction of those class-action filings are directed at ...
-
Blog
SEC Ponders Tension Over Management Review Controls
Image: Amid continued tension over what it takes to satisfy auditors and regulators with respect to management review controls, the SEC is pondering whether some kind of new guidance might be in order. Deputy Chief Accountant Brian Croteau said recently, “It’s not an area that seems to be improving. So ...
-
Blog
FASB Proposal May Foreshadow Changes to Cash Flow Rules
A proposal to change the presentation of financial information for not-for-profit entities, especially cash-flow classifications, could be a preview of what public companies might face down the line. The proposal would require entities to classify cash flows in ways more consistent with classifications in the statement of activities. More inside.
-
Blog
2014 Restatements Show Further Declines
Restatement data for 2014 suggest companies are getting better at financial reporting—producing fewer erroneous reports, with less damaging effects, and correcting mistakes more quickly when they find them, the latest report from Audit Analytics shows. Contrary to all the good news, however, restatements among accelerated filers are not falling. More ...
-
Article
Buying Time With Revenue Standard Delay
Image: FASB might delay implementation of the new revenue recognition standard; corporate financial reporting executives should not. Despite uncertainty on fine points of the standard and business software yet to digest FASB’s seachange in reporting revenue, businesses can do plenty now. “The deferral is telling companies don’t delay in assessing ...