Jim Ulvog

Q: CPA firm fees increasing in 2012?

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /

A: Yes, according to CPATrendlines at their post NEW SURVEY RESULTS: Busy Season Prices Heading Up 4.1%.

Their survey shows that overall, CPA firms are starting to increase fees a bit more in 2012.  Some holding stable.  Some increasing a bit.  Some increasing fees for problem clients.  Overall though, a 4.1% increase.  Average increases in 2010 were reported at 3.2%.

Their survey also shows CPAs are expecting a better busy season in 2012 than 2011.

Q: CPA firm fees increasing in 2012? Read More »

What firm failed to find these fraudulent fiascos?

3 Comments / Audits, Fraud /

Boston Chicken, Arizona Baptist Foundation, Sunbeam, Waste Management, Global Crossing, Enron, and WorldCom have one auditor in common.

Who was it?

Unfortunately, a chronicler of accounting history could pull together a list of disastrous audits for all the large firms. Perhaps the Grumpy Old Accountants, Professors Catanach and Ketz, could put that on their to-be-blogged-about list.

At the moment, they have provided a superb summary of each of the above fiascos in their post, Enron’s tenth anniversary: Arthur Andersen’s audit failures at Enron and elsewhere.

Just a few comments from me.

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What firm failed to find these fraudulent fiascos?Read More »

What firm failed to find these fraudulent fiascos? Read More »

Fog around structure of Olympus fraud starting to lift

2 Comments / Audits, Fraud /

I’m slightly curious how Olympus hid losses of one or two billion $US, but not curious enough to do my own research.  Also curious how three different Big 4 firms missed it.

Thus I will rely on other bloggers, such as Tracy Coenen’s post, Financial Statement Fraud: Olympus Makes It Look Easy, at her blog, the Fraud Files.

One of the several components they used to make losses go away is paying a lot of money to buy companies that have no history, earnings, or assets: …

Fog around structure of Olympus fraud starting to liftRead More »

Fog around structure of Olympus fraud starting to lift Read More »

What is an “appropriate salutation” for a compilation report or review report?

Leave a Comment / Compilations & reviews /

After listening to a Compilation and Review update for 2012 webcast from the AICPA, I’ve changed my mind on what would be an appropriate salutation.

One of the presenters, mentioned that the salutation should not include a personal greeting along the lines of “Dear Board”.  (I won’t identify him because it was his opinion and not an authoritative comment so it is not fair to cite him as an authority.)

I submitted a question to clarify why he thought that. The moderator presented the question. Response was along the lines of the compilation and review reports are still reports and not letters.  As such, it would not be appropriate to include a personal salutation along the lines of “dear directors.”

That represents a substantial change from the approach I have been using for the last year in my reports.  That is also quite different from what I have provided as samples on this blog. …

What is an “appropriate salutation” for a compilation report or review report?Read More »

What is an “appropriate salutation” for a compilation report or review report? Read More »

Rate of change in accounting rules

Leave a Comment / Pondering /

Coming away from the 2011 CalCPA A&A conference, I realized again what a huge volume of change we are seeing in the accounting rules now.  There is a lot of stuff in exposure draft and more things just over the horizon.  

Just in terms of GAAP, I think that volume of change is going to increase.

In addition, I learned that SSARS rules are being rewritten into the clarified structure. Also, I’ve previously read the independence rules are being rewritten in clarified structure.

Coming to terms with that idea of increasing rate of change is the whole purpose behind my other blog, Outrun Change, by the way.

Rate of change in accounting rules Read More »

Enron revisited: Recap of the environment of the time

Leave a Comment / Audits, Fraud /

The Grumpy Old Accountants, Professors Anthony Catanach and Edward Ketz, revisit changes in the audit world prior to the Enron disaster at Enron’s Tenth Anniversary: Context for Andersen’s Auditing Failures. Visit their post for a refresher on what the environment was like at the time.

I think one very serious transition in that time was audits becoming loss leaders that promoted lucrative consulting work.

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Enron revisited: Recap of the environment of the timeRead More »

Enron revisited: Recap of the environment of the time Read More »

Webcast for Comp and Review risk alert

Leave a Comment / Compilations & reviews /

Not much advance notice I realize, but the Compilation and Review Alert – Gearing Up for Busy Season webcast from the AICPA is tomorrow, November 17, from 2 PM until 4 PM Eastern time.

This annual webcast surveys current issues for the upcoming season of compilations and reviews.  Might be worth checking it out.  Cost is $79 for two hours of CPE.

Topics include: …

Webcast for Comp and Review risk alertRead More »

Webcast for Comp and Review risk alert Read More »

Time to start paying attention to the Olympus accounting fiasco

2 Comments / Accounting, Audits, Fraud /

Yeah, Olympus.  The people who made that cool camera you’ve been using.

Here’s the story in one sentence: It looks like Olympus has been materially cooking the books since the late 1990s.

In one paragraph:

The maker of cameras and medical-imaging equipment said Tuesday that it used four acquisitions in 2008 to “clear up” paper losses on investments dating to the 1990s. Asahi and KPMG AZSA signed off on Olympus’s statements for those years. There’s no indication that the accounting firm signed statements that it knew were misleading or incorrect.

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Time to start paying attention to the Olympus accounting fiascoRead More »

Time to start paying attention to the Olympus accounting fiasco Read More »

That insightful flash of creative accounting? Maybe not a good thing.

2 Comments / Accounting, Fraud /

At the 2011 A&A conference, Suzan C. Dennis, CPA, had a great comment.  I’ll summarize and expand her idea:

If you have a flash of brilliant insight on a new and creative way to account for some issue, you may have a bad idea. 

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That insightful flash of creative accounting? Maybe not a good thing.Read More »

That insightful flash of creative accounting? Maybe not a good thing. Read More »

Reminders for your 12-11 audits – Part 2 – SASs 118, 119, 120

Leave a Comment / Audits /

Here is another reminder as you start thinking about your December 2011 audits:

  • SASs 118,119, and 120 are going into effect.

These comments will be highly summarized.  If you see something that applies in your client base, get hold of the authoritative literature.

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Reminders for your 12-11 audits – Part 2 – SASs 118, 119, 120Read More »

Reminders for your 12-11 audits – Part 2 – SASs 118, 119, 120 Read More »

Pendulum swings in how we use computers

Leave a Comment / Pondering /

The swinging of a pendulum is a great word picture for describing change.   Especially helps for explaining shifts in computing power.  The pendulum swung from dumb terminals to personal computers and now to ‘the cloud’.

I mention this in a post at my other blog, Outrun Change:  The computing pendulum has swung back to dumb terminals and service bureaus – will it swing back?

There I discuss and link to a post by John Bredehoft.

By the way, my ponderings about the change taking place around us are posted on the other blog.  That leaves this blog focused on attestation issues.

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Reflections on the zero cost and inconsequential time to deliver a 2,500 page book.

Leave a Comment / Pondering /

Delivering books in PDF format is old news.

Today I looked at the process anew and laughed in marvel at the simplicity, low-cost, and blinding speed of doing so. Posted my thoughts on my other blog Outrun Change at: It’s a blast being alive today, or, isn’t technology cool?

Reflections on the zero cost and inconsequential time to deliver a 2,500 page book. Read More »