Separation of Power

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Netflix shareholders will vote on at the company’s annual meeting on Monday is a proposal by two public pension funds to separate the roles of chairman and chief executive. Both are held by Reed Hastings, Netflix’s co-founder. Questions: 1. Who are the backers of this corporate governance issue and why do you think they are… Read more »

Something doesn’t add up

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Financial Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

As more companies become aware of the tax opportunity that Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands offer, more are taking advantage of it. According to the I.R.S. in 2004, companies with foreign income said 8 percent of that income came from those remarkable islands. But in 2010, the figure was 11 percent…. Read more »

IBM Guards Age Data

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

For approximately a decade, IBM has been giving fired employees information detailing a severance package that asks them to waive age-discrimination claims. This package also included a page listing the job titles and ages of workers being let go, until recently. Now IBM is withholding the information and instead offering the workers with the option… Read more »

Time to Cash In?

Posted by & filed under Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting.

During his eight years as steward of the world’s largest economy, Mr. Bernanke’s salary was about $200,000 a year. Now he makes that in just a few hours speaking to bankers, hedge fund billionaires and leaders of industry. Questions: 1. How much is Mr. Bernanke likely to make this year in speaking fees? 2. What… Read more »

Making An Embarrassing Case Disappear?

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

According to Michael Devine, a freelance programmer who is one of the four plaintiffs named in the suit against tech giants Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe, the companies are getting off far too lightly. With cash hoards of over $230 billion collectively, the settlement amount of this class action suit was about one-tenth of the… Read more »

Billing Outlier or Fraud?

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

According to the Washington Post, Medicare spent $152 per member in the Huntsville, Ala., medical marketplace — 38 times the national average — for “unclassified” drug injections, including a type of injection used rarely around the country but used thousands of times a year at the Alabama Pain Clinic in Huntsville. Questions: 1. Why is… 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 »

Here’s a Warning for Dog Lovers!

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

Over approximately the last seven years (or 2,643 days), at least 600 dogs have died and thousands of others have been sickened by jerky treats. However, while the FDA has warned against this apparent link, the culprit has remained largely a mystery. Questions: 1. Have the illnesses only affected dogs? Why is the FDA limited… Read more »

Oh, to get a hole-in-one!

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

Matt Ramsey’s joy of winning the $10,000 prize for sinking a hole in one was not dashed by his own skills, but the scamming of Kevin Kolenda. Like other hole-in-one winners around the country, Matt learned that he was the victim of a scam whereby Kolenda sold insurance without a license in several states to… Read more »