That is my (biased) summary of the reasons to adopt IFRS, as explained in an article by Professor Christian Leuz, Accountants of the World Unite!: Business Class
Having already taken an implied position that IFRS is not a good thing for the United States, I guess I will jump in further.
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Individuals or organizations that own bank accounts overseas or have signature authority on those accounts may have to file a certain report with the Treasury Department every year. If the balance in those accounts goes over $10,000 you need to file an FBAR report by June 30 of the following year.
Deadline for filing this report for 2009 and earlier has been extended.
This requirement applies to nonprofit organizations as well. In addition, individuals who are merely signers on those accounts have a personal obligation to report.
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Filing deadline for overseas bank accounts extended for 2009 year and earlierRead More »
Filing deadline for overseas bank accounts extended for 2009 year and earlier Read More »
The IRS announced an increased mileage rate for the last half of 2011 due to high fuel costs.
Starting 7-1-11, the optional rate for business use of vehicles is 55.5 cents per mile. For medical and moving the optional rate is 23.5 cents per mile.
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New optional mileage rate for last half of 2011 Read More »
Reservations are surfacing about the idea of mandatory auditor rotation, particularly for the really big companies. That is an idea being pushed by the PCAOB. See previous post.
Jim Peterson, at Re:Balance, has a long list of concerns with the idea, as discussed in his post Mandatory Auditor Rotation – – Further Thoughts on PCAOB Chairman Doty’s Bad Idea.
My summary of a few of his ideas:
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CPATrendlines highlights some data from the AICPA/PCPS MAP survey:
Looks like 2,937 firms participated, which is a rather high percentage of all CPA firms. That is about 6.6% of all firms.
Great article with some really good data on how things are going at other firms: How Much to Charge?
Average CPA billing rates by firm size and staffing level Read More »
I have a post on my other blog, Nonprofit Update, about ‘transition relief’ for very small NPOs whose exempt status was revoked by the IRS for not filing any tax returns for three consecutive years. See the post Slim relief for getting exemption back after automatic revocation for very small organizations.
Transition relief for small NPOs with automatic revocation Read More »
The California Society of CPAs has a great introduction to the new, rewritten and clarified SAS literature in their July 2011 issue.
The article Full Tank of GAAS by Andrew M. Mintzer, CPA provides a great introduction to the overhaul of the entire body of SASs.
The article also has a great summary of the major changes in the auditor’s report.
It is quite short and well worth your read if nothing other than a general heads-up on the revised report format.
Another intro to the clarified SAS literature Read More »
I would like to provide a complementary copy of my book Once Upon Internal Control to pastors of local churches. This short fable is the basis for the cartoons you see on my other blog.
Update: This book is now available on Amazon for $0.99USD.
Free offer good for delivery in U.S. only, effective December 5, 2011. Free offer will expire on December 31, 2011.
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Free book offer for pastors of local churches Read More »
On my other blog I have a discussion of the automatic revocation of exempt status for about 275,000 NPOs, announced by the IRS on 6-8-11.
Post is: IRS publishes list of NPOs whose exemptions were automatically revoked
IRS releases automatic revocation list Read More »
Hey, it is just plain fun to read the Going Concern blog. Really should add it to your RSS feed.
For those of us in small firms who might have some idle curiosity of what the staffing looks like in a large office in the Big 4 world, Going Concern has some juicy details of the headcount by job level in the LA office of Deloitte.
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What does the staffing of a big office of a Big 4 firm look like?Read More »
What does the staffing of a big office of a Big 4 firm look like? Read More »
All of the ethics rules are being restructured and redrafted. They will be put together around a conceptual framework. Although the changes are in the distant future, efforts to rewrite the code are underway right now. It would be wise for us to start paying attention.
A good place to start is an article in the June 2011 Journal of Accountancy.
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Some short scenes have been combined into a 9 minute cartoon along with an intro and extro. The first of several feature-length cartoons is available on my other blog, Once Upon Internal Control. This one discusses some creative internal controls over cash and a few ideas on how to maintain security over the offering until it is counted by the count team. More to follow!
Cartoon can be found at:
The chairman of the PCAOB, James Doty, gave a speech this week that got some attention. He pointed out that the PCAOB had found “hundreds” of audit failures amongst the 2,800 reviews the agency has conducted. Not a particularly encouraging passing rate for the big firms that work on publicly traded clients (or the mighty bold smaller ones that want to run in that world).
He suggested that auditors aren’t taking independence quite seriously enough. Mandatory firm rotation is one of several ideas he is mulling in public.
What kind of problem is the PCAOB seeing that generates these ideas?
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The entire body of auditing standards are being rewritten. All of the rewrite will go into effect with our December 31, 2012 audits. This entire project is referred to as The Clarity Project, which is producing what are called clarified standards.
There will be a lot of changes, both big and small. You would do well to start reading up on the issues. We have until we start field work early in 2013 to get up to speed. By the way, the audit report will have substantial revisions.
The June 2011 issue of the Journal of Accountancy has a great introduction:
Clarified Auditing Standards: The Quiet Revolution
I heartily recommend you read the article. Well worth your time. You can click on the Audits category in the right column of this blog for other discussions of the clarified standards.
All of the SAS are being rewritten – here’s a good introduction Read More »
Posted at Once Upon Internal Control: The exit interview with the reporter who was investigating reports of extravagant spending. Final cartoon in the tale of the church that did internal controls well can be found here.
All four cartoons plus the intro will be rolled into a feature cartoon.
Conclusion to the tale of Southside Community Church – cartoon #4 posted Read More »