Jim Ulvog

Range of U.S., Chinese, and Japanese regulators’ responses to fraud in today’s news – Olympus and Longtop

Leave a Comment / Accounting, Audits, Fraud /

Sometimes you get fun results when you look at two news articles side by side. Let’s look at the responses of securities regulators in the US, China, and Japan.  Hat tip to Going Concern for highlighting the articles.

Olympus fine

Japan’s securities market regulator proposed a fine of $2.5M against Olympus for conducting a $1.7 billion financial fraud that was spread over 13 years – Japan market watchdog recommends $2.5 million fine for Olympus.

Let’s put that proposed fine into perspective. All amounts will be in US dollars.

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Range of U.S., Chinese, and Japanese regulators’ responses to fraud in today’s news – Olympus and LongtopRead More »

Range of U.S., Chinese, and Japanese regulators’ responses to fraud in today’s news – Olympus and Longtop Read More »

Time to call the game on IFRS adoption and go home?

1 Comment / Accounting /

That’s the argument from Jim Peterson at Re:Balance in his post, Unification of Global Accounting Standards? It’s Time to Call Time.

He is responding to the three-post series from Tom Selling in The Accounting Onion that I summarized here.

Mr. Peterson thinks it’s time to call the game.

His reasons?

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Time to call the game on IFRS adoption and go home?Read More »

Time to call the game on IFRS adoption and go home? Read More »

10 invalid arguments in favor of IFRS

3 Comments / Accounting /

Professor Tom Selling provides presents 10 arguments provided by others who are in favor of IFRS and then explains why those arguments are incorrect.  Actually, he uses the word false.

He provides some background on how we got to this place and starts the discussion at 10 Claims in Support of IFRS Adoption by the SEC – and Why They are False (Part One of Three).

He continues the discussion in part two and part three.

His discussion is quite lengthy, so get a large, fresh cup of coffee or an extra-large soda and settle in for a long read. Even this recap will run quite long.

Here is his list with my extremely short paraphrase that won’t come close to doing justice. …

10 invalid arguments in favor of IFRSRead More »

10 invalid arguments in favor of IFRS Read More »

The price of free apps is not zero

Leave a Comment / Social media /

(cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

You may not hand over money for that cool app, but you might pay in other ways.

Like handing over personal information.  Or perhaps the personal information of your friends.

An article in the Wall Street Journal, Selling You on Facebook, reports on their research into the data obtained by a variety of Facebook apps. Many apps look for personal information, sometimes including your political or religious beliefs.

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The price of free apps is not zeroRead More »

The price of free apps is not zero Read More »

Three skills for living in a social media world

Leave a Comment / Pondering, Social media /

There will be three career fields in huge demand in the social media world. That is the idea Mark Schaefer presents in his blog, {grow}.

I discuss his post and my thoughts in my post Three Skills for Living in a Social Media World at my other blog, Outrun Change.

At an individual level, I think these three careers point to skills each of us need to develop if we wish to function in a world dominated by social media.  The career fields and individual skills are: …

Three skills for living in a social media worldRead More »

Three skills for living in a social media world Read More »

Arguments against IFRS adoption – 10 problems with claims in favor

1 Comment / Accounting /

Just a quick note for the large number of people landing on my blog today after searching for arguments against IFRS adoption – Be sure to visit Dr. Tom Sellings’ blog, The Accounting Onion. 

Three great posts that I plan to comment on later, but you might find valuable today. They were posted this week, so they  may not yet be sorting high on the search engines. Check out all three parts.

 Ten Claims in Support of IFRS Adoption by the SEC – and Why They are False

You will also want to visit Dr. David Albrecht’s blog, The Summa.

Some of my other posts are here, here, here, and here. Or use the search button on top right corner.

 

Arguments against IFRS adoption – 10 problems with claims in favor Read More »

Word picture (with video) on coping with radical change

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /

I have a post at my other blog, Outrun Change, that describes how a Chicago museum got an 880 ton submarine into an exhibit by putting the sub in a hole in the ground and then building the museum around it. This is a word picture of changing ourselves to adapt to the change around us.

Building a museum after the exhibit is in place as illustration of adapting to change.

Bill Sheridan of the Maryland Association of CPAs makes this a good illustration for us CPAs on how to adapt to radical change.  See post above for more explanation.

Word picture (with video) on coping with radical change Read More »

Panel clears E&Y over Olympus auditing – far less to the report than meets the eye

Leave a Comment / Accounting, Audits, Fraud /

The Wall Street Journal headline says Panel Clears Ernst & Young in Olympus Probe.

Cool update on the investigation, huh? An official panel looks at E&Y’s role and concludes their auditing was okay.  They have no legal liability.

I was quite interested in the article.  Then found out the details.

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Panel clears E&Y over Olympus auditing – far less to the report than meets the eyeRead More »

Panel clears E&Y over Olympus auditing – far less to the report than meets the eye Read More »

Sample compilation and review reports under SSARS 19 for NPOs

Leave a Comment / Compilations & reviews /

(cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. All the reports have been revised. See:

Here is a list of the sample reports under SSARS available on my blogs.

Sample compilation and review reports under SSARS 19 for NPOs Read More »

New format for blog

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /

I’ve changed the template for this blog. Went from ‘Fusion’ to ‘The journalist v1.9’.

This is in the ‘minimalist’ category. Doesn’t have a lot of pizzazz, but then I’m a CPA. We don’t usually do pizzazz. For a small touch of that, check out my other blogs.

If you aren’t familiar with blogging, WordPress provides free blogs and lets you use their software on another hosted site.

I have all my blogs hosted at WordPress.

The WordPress software is astoundingly easy to use. If you have working familiarity with Word or Excel, you can drive a blog easily.

If you’ve ever even though about blogging, give it a try!

New format for blog Read More »

To what purpose did Arthur Andersen die? Part 3

2 Comments / Audits /

First post in this series discussed an editorial in the Chicago Tribune concluding that Big 5 accounting firm Andersen died in vain.

Second post provides background on the large number of audit failures that surrounded Andersen.  The editorial provides background on the poor ethical environment of the firm.

David Albrecht, in his post 10 Years Later – Did Andersen Die in Vain?, has a very different answer to the question.

There was a purpose in the demise of Andersen.  Punishment

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To what purpose did Arthur Andersen die? Part 3Read More »

To what purpose did Arthur Andersen die? Part 3 Read More »

To what purpose did Arthur Andersen die? Part 2

3 Comments / Audits, Books you might enjoy /

Previous post discussed a March 14, 2012 editorial in the Chicago Tribune which ponders what greater cause may have existed behind the 2002 collapse of Big 5 accounting firm Arthur Andersen. The editorial concluded that Andersen died in vain.

Methinks the editorial’s content argues against the editorial’s conclusion.

Let’s look at the pattern of behavior

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To what purpose did Arthur Andersen die? Part 2Read More »

To what purpose did Arthur Andersen die? Part 2 Read More »

To what purpose did Arthur Andersen die? Part 1

4 Comments / Audits /

In a March 14, 2012 editorial, the Chicago Tribune ponders what greater cause may have existed behind the 2002 collapse of Big 5 accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

Their conclusion? Andersen died in vain.

David Albrecht, in his post 10 Years Later – Did Andersen Die in Vain?, reaches a very different conclusion. More on that in part 3 of this series. If this post has already caught your interest, you’ll enjoy reading his post now.

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To what purpose did Arthur Andersen die? Part 1Read More »

To what purpose did Arthur Andersen die? Part 1 Read More »

Self-deception – a major obstacle to thinking clearly

Leave a Comment / Audits, Pondering /

I am reading through a book that outlines ways our thinking processes will sometimes lead us to decisions that are actually wrong.

While pondering those ideas, I realized there is another severe flaw in the way we humans think that is described in the Bible.

The book is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.  My posts on the book applying it to the audit context start here.

The problem is worse than just incorrectly thinking fast

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Self-deception – a major obstacle to thinking clearlyRead More »

Self-deception – a major obstacle to thinking clearly Read More »