Jim Ulvog – Page 76 – Attestation Update

Update on project to overhaul financial statement presentation

At the 2011 CalCPA A&A conference, Suzan C. Dennis, CPA, discussed the FASB’s project to completely change the presentation of financial statements. I previously discussed that here. What she provided is background you won’t read in the official documents.

Just a quick recap. If you think about the current cash flow statement, you will recall that it summarizes cash flows in three sections: operating, investing, and financing. Transactions related to purchasing or liquidating investments or equipment are in the investing section. Loans and equity transactions are in the financing section.

To get a very rough picture of what’s involved in changing the financial statement presentation, imagine restructuring the balance sheet and income statement into the same format as a cash flow statement. …

Update on project to overhaul financial statement presentationRead More »

Update on project to overhaul financial statement presentation Read More »

“Once Upon Internal Control” is available on Kindle platform

Leave a Comment / Accounting, Books you might enjoy, Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

My tale on internal control done well and poor at two churches is now available in Kindle format at Amazon.

Price is $0.99.

You can read the book on your Kindle device, on any smart phone with a Kindle app, or on your computer using the Kindle-for-PC application.

At Amazon, search for my name, Ulvog, or the book title, Once Upon Internal Control.

Or click here to go directly to the book.

“Once Upon Internal Control” is available on Kindle platform Read More »

Q: CPA firm fees increasing in 2012?

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

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 / Jim Ulvog

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 / Jim Ulvog

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 / Jim Ulvog

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

Keep an eye on developments in China

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

There are dangers if the Chinese economy does not continue to grow at 9%. By the way, economies just don’t go straight up forever. That means the road ahead could be bumpy.

If what happens in China is of interest in your firm or at a general level, it might be worth checking out my post, Continue to pay attention to China at my other blog, Outrun Change.

Keep an eye on developments in China Read More »

Enron revisited: Recap of the environment of the time

Leave a Comment / Audits, Fraud / Jim Ulvog

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 / Jim Ulvog

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 »

Reminder for CPE in California

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

Quick reminder for CPAs in California.

You need to have a minimum of 20 hours CPE in each of the two years of your license period. No more of this routine of running up all 80 hours in the last six months before renewal.

Also, you need 4 hours of ethics every two years and 2 hours on regulatory rules every 6 years. Those classes need to be approved by the state board.

Reminder for CPE in California Read More »

Are you future ready?

Time to start paying attention to the Olympus accounting fiasco

2 Comments / Accounting, Audits, Fraud / Jim Ulvog

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 »