Jim Ulvog

Another critique of IFRS – it requires honest judgment

3 Comments / Accounting /

IFRS hasn’t achieved consistency in financial reporting in countries where it has been implemented, even amongst firms in the same industry.

Consistency between countries is low because:

IFRS has been filled with carve-outs, special deals, exceptions, and time-freezes; in short, countries are adopting their own national brands of IFRS

In addition, principles-based accounting hasn’t cleared up the off-balance-sheet financing issue where IFRS has been adopted.

These are some of the secondary criticisms that Professors Anthony Catanach and Edward Ketz raise in their post, IFRS is for Criminals.

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Another critique of IFRS – it requires honest judgmentRead More »

Another critique of IFRS – it requires honest judgment Read More »

A few troublesome questions that haven’t been asked about IFRS

2 Comments / Accounting /

In a long post in advance of the roundtable held this week by the SEC on IRFS, Professor Tom Selling gives lots of inside-baseball info on the roundtable.  See the post No News from the SEC on its IFRS Roundtable is Bad News

 Later in the article he raises some superb questions he would like to see asked, but doubts will be discussed. Some examples:

 Why are we doing this?

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A few troublesome questions that haven’t been asked about IFRSRead More »

A few troublesome questions that haven’t been asked about IFRS Read More »

What are Cliffs, Cul-de-sacs, and Dips? The Dip, by Seth Godin

Leave a Comment / Books you might enjoy /

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

When is it time to push through the obstacles and keep trying to achieve?

That is the topic of Seth Godin’s book, The Dip. Since the book was written in 2007, I am late to the party. Still want to write about it because most people I talk to are not familiar with his work.

We need to distinguish between cliffs, cul-de-sacs, and dips.

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What are Cliffs, Cul-de-sacs, and Dips? The Dip, by Seth GodinRead More »

What are Cliffs, Cul-de-sacs, and Dips? The Dip, by Seth Godin Read More »

How to get started on your peer review – part 1

Leave a Comment / Peer Review /

This is the beginning of a series of posts on how to get started with a peer review of your firm.

Many firms in California are going down this road because the mandatory peer review deadlines arrived June 2011. If your license number ends in 01-33, you already got started. The next one-third of firms (license ending in 34-66) have until June 2012. The remaining firms have until June 2013. The hairsplitting deadline is that the peer review information needs to be submitted by July 1.

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How to get started on your peer review – part 1Read More »

How to get started on your peer review – part 1 Read More »

Arguments for adopting IFRS are weak, arguments against have validity. Therefore we obviously should adopt IFRS.

2 Comments / Accounting /

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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Arguments for adopting IFRS are weak, arguments against have validity. Therefore we obviously should adopt IFRS.Read More »

Arguments for adopting IFRS are weak, arguments against have validity. Therefore we obviously should adopt IFRS. Read More »

Filing deadline for overseas bank accounts extended for 2009 year and earlier

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /

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 »

Mandatory auditor rotation for large companies – impractical, ineffective, costly, and increases concentration in Big 4 – other than it’s a great idea

Leave a Comment / Audits /

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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Mandatory auditor rotation for large companies – impractical, ineffective, costly, and increases concentration in Big 4 – other than it’s a great ideaRead More »

Mandatory auditor rotation for large companies – impractical, ineffective, costly, and increases concentration in Big 4 – other than it’s a great idea Read More »

Average CPA billing rates by firm size and staffing level

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /

CPATrendlines highlights some data from the AICPA/PCPS MAP survey:

  • Average billing rate by firm size (from <200K revenue to >10M) and staffing level (partner, director, manager, seniors, associates)
  • Net remaining per partner by firm size with 2010 compared to 2008
  • Fees per partner by firm size with 2010 and 2008 data

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 »

Another intro to the clarified SAS literature

Leave a Comment / Audits /

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 »

Free book offer for pastors of local churches

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /

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 churchesRead More »

Free book offer for pastors of local churches Read More »

What does the staffing of a big office of a Big 4 firm look like?

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /

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 »