The bankruptcy case of Janet Roth stirred a debate over the rigidity of the “undue hardship” standard in discharging student loans. This year, President Obama instructed several governmental agencies to review, by Oct. 1, whether the treatment of student loans in bankruptcy should be altered. Questions: 1. How did Ms. Roth prepare for her case?… Read more »
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Intermediate Accounting Updates
The following Update files contain discussions of key accounting standards and other issues that have arisen since the publication of Intermediate Accounting, 14th Edition. The first is file reflects the most recent accounting standards concerning comprehensive income. It should replace pages 181–184 in Chapter 4 of Intermediate Accounting, 14th Edition. Replacement homework material is also… Read more »
Opting for Electronic Transactions
More companies are cutting eliminating the acceptance of check payments from their business plans. According to Karen Aho, Whole Foods Markets, Fresh & Easy, and Banana Republic (a brand of Gap, Inc.) are just a few of the companies that refuse checks as payment from customers. According to the Federal Reserve, paying by check has… Read more »
Wage and Hour Violations
On December 9, 2009, Wal-Mart disclosed that it had settled a long-running wage and hour dispute in Massachusetts for $40 million. According to the Boston Globe, this was the largest wage and hour settlement in the state of Massachusetts. Interestingly, it was just a year ago at the end of 2008 that Wal-Mart reported that… Read more »
The Worst Footnote Disclosures of 2009
Every year, Michelle Leder at www.footnoted.org, takes a look at the worst footnote disclosures that companies try to bury in their routine SEC filings. As her website states, the financial footnotes are important for all users, including professional money managers and analysts, accountants, and individual investors. According to her article, there are a lot of… Read more »
Japan’s Big Accounting Move
During the week of December 7, 2009, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) announced that it is moving to the formal adoption of International Accounting Standard (IAS) reporting by 2015. Up until now, the FSA has allowed Japanese companies to file consolidated statements using U.S. GAAP, but in 2015 this may end. The agency will make… Read more »
Health Reform and Payments to Doctors
In September 2009, Merck & Co. Inc. announced that they will be the largest drug company to publish details of payments to doctors. The prescription drug industry has met with growing criticism about its lack of disclosure regarding payments that may influence drug prescribing. As the second-largest U.S. drug company, the company vowed to begin… Read more »
The Fraudulent World of Hurricane Restoration
Home Solutions of America, Inc., a hurricane restoration company, is charged by the SEC with recording millions of dollars in bogus revenues and issuing misinformation to fraudulently inflate its stock price. The scheme was compounded by transactions that occurred between Home Solutions and Fireline Restoration Inc., its largest subsidiary. All of this alleged activity happened… Read more »
Is the SEC Going to Get Tough On Compliance with Executive Pay Disclosures?
The SEC revised its disclosure guidelines for executive pay in late 2006. Since that time the regulator has been sending out letters to violator companies with insufficient disclosures, but has seen little compliance. Now the commission indicates that reviews will be tighter and there’s no room for a “Mister Nice Guy†approach. In fact, its… Read more »
Evidence that Internal Control Reviews Reduce Restatements
According to a new study from the research firm, Audit Analytics, smaller companies that have not had auditors review their internal-control reports are more likely to have restatements than larger companies, despite their claims of effective controls. This is bad news for those small publicly traded companies who have argued that they should be exempt… Read more »
Leading Accounting Courses
Kimmel Financial Accounting, 10th Edition
Kimmel Accounting, 8th Edition
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Weygandt Managerial Accounting 9e
Weygandt Financial & Managerial Accounting 4e
Weygandt Accounting Principles 14e
Kimmel Survey of Accounting 2e
Kieso Intermediate Accounting 18e
Johnson Auditing, 2nd Edition
Farmer Cost Accounting, 1st Edition
Savage Accounting Information Systems, 1st Edition