Posts Tagged: Financial statements

Saving Money through Social Media

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, Video Updates.

The recession has bred a new type of coupon: the group coupon. In recent months, several Web sites have launched nationwide giving customers discounts on restaurant meals, sporting events, spa treatments, golf outings — pretty much any expenditure that many people give up during economic downturns. The catch is that the coupon only applies if… Read more »

Who are the most trustworthy companies and why?

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.

Who can you trust?  In a recent examination by Audit Integrity, an independent financial analytics company in Los Angeles, the company assessed the true quality of corporate accounting and management practices by looking at more than 100 factors beyond the balance sheet and income statement. Their aim was to identify the measures most highly associated… Read more »

Multi-Million Dollar Swindle of Four Universities

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

In one of the most recently uncovered Ponzi cases, a former hedge-fund manager has pleaded guilty to criminal charges in an investment scam in which he bilked as much as $900-million from investors, including four university endowments. According to investigators, the Paul R. Greenwood and his partner Stephen Walsh spent at least $160-million on mansions, horses,… Read more »

New Revenue Recognition Standards on the Way for Contractors

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

Contractors should be educating themselves on the impact of the new proposed revenue recognition standards and the recently published (June 24, 2010) exposure draft pertaining to revenue from contracts with customers. Public comments are due October 22, 2010, and it is expected the standards will be finalized in 2011. Questions: 1. What are some of… Read more »

Small Discrepancies Grow Into a Giant Fraud

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, Video Updates.

Satyam Computer Services, a leading Indian outsourcing company that served more than a third of the Fortune 500 companies, was at the heart of a huge 2009 fraud perpetrated through the significant inflation of earnings and falsification of accounts and assets for a number of years.  Chairman, Ramalinga Raju, resigned  in January 2009 after revealing that… Read more »

Research and Development (R & D): Does This Indicate a Crack in the Foundation of IFRS Convergence?

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

When the IASB and FASB began the convergence process in 2002, they considered R & D as a high-priority project, where differences between US GAAP and IFRS were seen as particularly straightforward. However, as this article notes, still no consensus has been reached because IASB’s R&D treatment  appears to defeat comparability in the eyes of… Read more »

Financial Instrument Accounting

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

On Wednesday, May 26, 2010, the FASB released an exposure draft for the purposes of improving accounting for financial instruments. The new rules, projected to take effect in 2013, incorporate both amortized cost and fair value information about financial instruments held for collection or payment of cash flows. Questions: 1. According to the article, how… Read more »

Convergence Delayed

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

The head of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets U.S. accounting rules, said June 1, 2010, that he does not expect FASB to meet a June 30, 2011 deadline for convergence with international accounting rules, as requested by the G20 group of industrial and emerging countries. According to FASB chairman, Robert Herz, changes that… Read more »

Frequent Flyer Miles

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

If the merger is approved, United Airlines and Continental Airlines will also be merging their frequent flyer programs.  But what is their track record in terms of rewarding the miles versus actual requests?  Consulting group, IdeaWorks Company, said Continental awarded free tickets 71 percent of the time in response to requests, and United 69 percent… Read more »

If You Are Planning to Work for Grant Thornton in Hawaii, Think Again.

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.

Accounting firm Grant Thornton is leaving the Hawaiian market this summer after more than 50 years, and selling its practice to two of the firm’s audit partners from the Honolulu office.  Several  established Big Four firms have preceded Grant Thornton in this exodus, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, who left in 2006 after 55 years. Questions: 1. What… Read more »