Collusion takes place when management, employees, or third parties work together to conceal fraud, thereby defeating the internal controls and rendering them ineffective. Analysis of…
How to Avoid Running Afoul of the SEC
Part 2: The Internal Controls Cases
In Brief In early 2014, the SEC's enforcement director said that the agency's investigators “were planning to pursue some internal control-related cases,” noting that this…
FASB’s Proposal to Change the Definition of Materiality: The Unexpected Uproar
2016 Max Block Award Winner: Outstanding Article in the Area of Departments/Columns
In September 2015, FASB issued two proposed documents that, if adopted, could change the way the concept of materiality is assessed and applied regarding information…
Unsolved Problems in Auditing: A Half-Century Retrospective and Update
2016 Max Block Award Winner: Outstanding Article in the Area of In Focus/Feature
Auditing has been an ever-changing discipline since its birth over 100 years ago, but how much have the challenges auditors face really evolved over the…
My article was not meant as a “put-down,” but rather the exact opposite. For the past 60 years, Integrity Advisors Pension Consultants has been working…
I found it puzzling The CPA Journal would publish a guest editorial like the one in the November 2015 issue (“It's Amazing What CPAs Can Do: Pension…
Tax & Accounting Update is provided by Thomson Reuters and based on material published on Checkpoint, its online news and research platform. The Update is…
Audit Analytics is an independent research firm that provides customized databases for audit, regulatory, and disclosure applications. Its website (http://www.auditanalytics.com) allows access to data on…
With its issuance of Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2014-15, Presentation of Financial Statements—Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40): Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity's Ability to Continue as…
The Going Concern Gap in U.S. GAAP
Filling a Hole in Existing Standards
Recent events, such as the fiscal crisis of 2007–2008 and the economic recession that followed, have prompted concerns about whether investors have received sufficient notice…
Changes to Going Concern Disclosures
Accounting Guidance Shifts Responsibilities to Management
Historically, auditors of financial statements have been charged with the assessment of an entity's ability to continue as a going concern (see AU 341, “The…
What is the state of audit quality today? There are a number of different ways to interpret, as well as answer, that question. The variety…
February marks the time of year when a good number of our members suddenly go quiet. But we know why: February is the start of…
On November 2, 2015, President Obama signed into law H.R. 1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which made significant changes to Social Security optimization…
Instead of looking at Social Security as a government entitlement that one should start receiving as soon as eligible, one should consider it an investment…
In Brief As part of its oversight mission, the PCAOB has sought to improve the quality of U.S. public company audits. A major part of…
Unsolved Problems in Auditing
A Half-Century Retrospective and Update
In Brief Auditing has been an ever-changing discipline since its birth over 100 years ago, but how much have the challenges auditors face really evolved…
In Brief For many companies, an audit is a necessary part of business operations. For others, however, it is not, and such businesses are increasingly…
It’s Amazing What CPAs Can Do
A Career Spent Wearing Many Hats
Hollywood has long stereotyped accountants as boring number crunchers. In my view, that is not the case. For the past 25 years, the accounting profession…
European Audit Reform
How It Could Affect U.S. Companies
In April 2014, European Union (EU) legislation was adopted to reform the European statutory audit market. In this context, a statutory audit is a legally…
What Auditors Need to Know about SOX Section 404(a) Reports
Hidden Risks and Responsibilities
Since the PCAOB's Auditing Standard (AS) 5, now reorganized as AS 2201, replaced AS 2 in 2007, auditors for publicly held companies (i.e., issuers) no…
Improving Audit Quality through Auditor Communication
Charting Recent Progress and Looking Ahead
The state of audit quality is strong—and getting stronger. Annual tallies of financial restatements have dropped dramatically from post—Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 peaks and have…
There are several points in a business's life cycle that represent increased risk. One prime example is the buying or selling of all or part…
Audit Quality and the Expectations Gap
It’s Time for a Model that Fits the Data
Leaders of the profession have conflicting views on the state of audit quality today. According to current SEC Chair Mary Jo White, “investor confidence in…
Tax & Accounting Update
FASB/SEC News
Tax & Accounting Update is provided by Thomson Reuters and based on material published on Checkpoint, its online news and research platform. The Update is…
The Continuing Evolution of Accounting Alternatives for Private Companies
Recognition of Identifiable Intangible Assets in a Business Combination
In Brief In 2014, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2014-18, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Accounting for Identifiable Intangible Assets in a Business Combination, a consensus…
The Tangle of Intangible Assets and Business Combinations
Related Standards: Past, Present, and Future
In Brief Since January 2014, FASB has issued several significant pronouncements on business combinations and intangible assets; however, the interaction between the two remains complex,…
One CPA’s 30-Year Journey
A Path into and out of Public Accounting
In my 30 years of being a CPA, I’ve gone from a family small business accounting practice to being a head of tax at a…