January 2017

Fun reading for accountants

Leave a Comment / Accounting, Other stuff / By
Manual accounting records. Anyone miss those? Didn't think sol. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Manual accounting records. Anyone miss those? Didn’t think so. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

A few fun reads for accountants:

  • Why no Hollywood movie will ever show a profit.
  • Adrienne Gonzalez is back at Going Concern, talking about the idea of TBTF Big 4 firms possibly, maybe, becoming SIFI (not likely to ever happen, but a fun read anyway).
  • Talent shortage appearing in the CPA world.
  • Research from Management of an Accounting Practice now available.

9/14/11 (yes, 2011) – The Atlantic – How Hollywood Accounting Can Make a $450 Million Movie “Unprofitable” – If you have never taken a look at the astoundingly creative accounting in Hollywood, this article will give you a superb introduction.

Several years ago I took a fraud education CPE course in which the instructor went on a tangent to explain why no Hollywood movie has ever made a profit and none of them ever will.

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Common findings on audits during peer review

Leave a Comment / Audits, Peer Review / By
Image is from AICPA. Used under Fair Use since, after all, I am promoting three of their products.
Image is from AICPA. Used under Fair Use since, after all, I am promoting their products.

The AICPA’s annual Audit Risk Alert General Accounting and Auditing Developments—2016/17 provides a useful summary of common peer review findings on audits.

What I like about this particular list is that it is short enough to actually provide focus. Frequently such lists have the filter set so broadly that the list covers practically all the findings that have surfaced during all peer reviews. Sometimes I’m left with the feeling that a list of findings reads like a list of every single step you need to perform during an audit.

Here is the short list provided in the risk alert, along with my explanation:

Incorrect dating of audit report – The auditor’s report needs to be dated no earlier than when sufficient appropriate audit evidence has been obtained to support the opinion. This means …

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A few highlights from 2017 Audit Risk Alert

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Image is from AICPA. Used under Fair Use since, after all, I am promoting three of their products.
Image is from AICPA. Used under Fair Use since, after all, I am promoting their product.

The AICPA’s annual audit risk alert had been out a little while. There is a lot of good stuff covered that all auditors really ought to check out. I heartily recommend reading the annual update before you get very far into your 12/31 audits.  The document is Audit Risk Alert General Accounting and Auditing Developments—2016/17.

I will mention just a few highlights.

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In case you hadn’t hear, those telephone calls claiming to be from the IRS demanding you immediately pay back taxes are a scam.

Leave a Comment / Fraud, Other stuff / By
Wouldn't it be nice if the phone id actually was that accurate for every call? Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the caller ID was actually that accurate for every call? Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

(Cross-posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update, so you may refer your clients to an article that provides depth on how to avoid becoming victim of recent scams.)

The most frequent scam in 2016 was the phone calls saying “This is the IRS and if you don’t pay your past due taxes this instant we will send someone to your house to arrest you right now.”

There are many things wrong with those calls.

As a starter, your first contact with the IRS will never be by phone. You will instead get a letter explaining what the IRS thinks you messed up.

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In case you hadn’t hear, those telephone calls claiming to be from the IRS demanding you immediately pay back taxes are a scam.Read More »