Posts Tagged: Disclosure Issues in Financial Reporting

Questions about Sales Tax

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Is a Twix bar food or candy? In 24 states, a Hershey’s bar is candy but a Twix isn’t. That’s because Twix contains flour, and in those states — which all share a sales tax code — candy is defined as being flour free. And since groceries aren’t taxed, you’ll pay taxes for the Hershey’s,… Read more »

Is the Federal Government a Risk to Turbo Tax: Read the Filings with the SEC?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS.

Free filing of taxes with the Federal government is a concept that has been endorsed by Presidents Obama and Reagan and is already a reality in some parts of Europe. But why isn’t it a reality? Liz Day’s article provides some evidence that the organization, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has launched aggressive efforts… Read more »

Brave New World: The Interpretation of Liking a Product on Facebook

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

In an April 16 New York Times article, Stephanie Strom reported that ” General Mills, the maker of cereals like Cheerios and Chex as well as brands like Bisquick and Betty Crocker, has quietly added language to its website to alert consumers that they give up their right to sue the company if they download… Read more »

Seventeen police officers to ticket Gator fans?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Only 1,260 feet of Route 301 runs through Hampton, Florida, a city with a population of under 500. Yet between 2011 and 2012, Hampton officers wrote 12,698 speeding tickets. Now Hampton, an 89-year-old city, is fighting the state legislature threatening to wipe the town off the map, after a state audit last month uncovered significant… Read more »

Warning about Emails

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Four former leaders of the law firm, Dewey & LeBoeuf, were charged by New York prosecutors with orchestrating a nearly four-year scheme to manipulate the firm’s books during the financial crisis. In emails they talked openly about “fake income,” “accounting tricks” and their ability to fool the firm’s “clueless auditor.” Questions: 1. Explain the role… Read more »

Humans are Bad at Understanding Compound Interest

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Maybe you haven’t even thought about your retirement, but according to Matthew O’Brien, you should. This is particularly true if you are contributing to a 401 (k). Questions: 1. What should you look at rather than the returns when picking your 401(k) funds? 2. According to O’Brien, what do 1.25 % annual fees for retirement… Read more »

How do you steal Bitcoins?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Video Updates.

According to McMillan, the world’s largest bitcoin exchange appeared to be a towering example of renegade entrepreneurism. However, insiders have claimed that Mt. Gox was a messy combination of poor management, neglect, and raw inexperience. Herein lies the makings of a $460 million hack of the bitcoin. Questions: 1. Would you consider a bitcoin to… Read more »

Think before you Speak

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

AOL recently altered its 401(k) program, by switching matching payments to one lump sum at year-end instead of throughout the year. The change was implemented, according to CEO, Tim Armstrong, because of soaring medical costs that arose in part from two families with “distressed babies.” Questions: 1. What is a 401(k)? 2. What was Armstrong’s… Read more »

An Epidemic or A Disorder Proliferated by Marketing?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

The sales of prescription stimulants for A.D.H.D. have more than quadrupled since 2002. Is it an epidemic? According to Dr. Keith Conners, a psychologist and professor emeritus at Duke University, who has been fighting to legitimize A.D.H.D diagnoses for the past 50 years, the rise is probably due to successful marketing campaigns that feed on… Read more »

Target hit by credit-card breach

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

On December 19, 2013, Target admitted that it was hit by an extensive theft of its customers’ credit-card and debit-card data over the Black Friday weekend. The theft was national in scope and happened in stores, not online. Questions: 1. When and what happened with respect to a card breach at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls… Read more »