Attestation Update – A&A for CPAs. – Page 34 – Technical stuff for CPAs providing attestation services.

Frequently asked questions about the overhaul of Nonprofit accounting

Leave a Comment / Accounting / Jim Ulvog

FASB has released three in a series of FAQs about the exposure draft that will drastically change accounting for all nonprofit organizations.

The first Q&A provides background and general discussion. One of the main goals of the exposure draft is to improve reporting and disclosures about liquidity. The FAQ links to the exposure draft and a May 2015 webcast discussion.
The second Q&A goes into some detail on specific issues.
The third Q&A explains some alternatives available within the exposure draft.

Watch for more FAQs in the future.

Frequently asked questions about the overhaul of Nonprofit accounting Read More »

Employee vs. Independent Contractor – Dep’t of Labor proposal would changed definition of employee

Leave a Comment / Accounting / Jim Ulvog

This discussion is cross-posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update. Although the context of my discussion is how this issue applies to charities, the issues are of even more importance to for-profit businesses.

In response to the rapid growth of what is called the “gig economy” or freelancers, the Department of Labor has issued an interpretation which tightens the definition of who is an employee.

I think it would be wise for the finance team and leadership of charities to look at this issue.

While this is aimed at companies like Lyft, Uber, Airbnb, and any other tech company that pays freelancers on an ad hoc job-by-job basis, it clearly applies to traditional businesses. This applies to charities.

It might be wise to think about how your charity is handling the independent contractor issue.

The Wage and Hour Division of DOL issued Administrator’s Interpretation 2015-1 (access to this copy provided by the WSJ.)

The Wall Street Journal explains Employees vs. Independent Contractors: US Weighs In on Debate Over How to Classify Workers.

The WSJ article explains that DOL believes many independent contractors should be moved to employee status. The DOL believes the definition of employee is far broader not only than what many employers believe but is even broader than what many courts have ruled.

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Employee vs. Independent Contractor – Dep’t of Labor proposal would changed definition of employeeRead More »

Employee vs. Independent Contractor – Dep’t of Labor proposal would changed definition of employee Read More »

Update for auditors

Leave a Comment / Accounting, Audits / Jim Ulvog

A touch of humor before more serious thinking.

5/9 – Reddit – “These auditors are tying things out just for the sake of doing more work. They’d tie their shoelaces together to test the existence of both their feet.” – Humor you will only appreciate if you have audit experience. If you’ve been an auditor, this is superb.

5/4 – Edward Trott at CFO magazine – Exceptions for Private Companies Are Damaging the GAAP Brand – …

Update for auditorsRead More »

Update for auditors Read More »

Fellow CPAs, we need to step up our audit game

Leave a Comment / Audits, Compilations & reviews, Peer Review / Jim Ulvog

Today I listened to the rebroadcast of 2015 Peer Review Update. Check out the class if you have the chance.

Update 7/7: The next rebroadcast will be July 20, 2015. Link is here. If that link has expired or disappeared, this page has a long list of all upcoming events in peer review.

Heard several few things that distressed me.

In particular, we CPAs collectively need to improve the quality of the work we are doing in the audit arena.

Consider a few points. This is what I heard from the presentation. I haven’t gone back to source documents to verify the numbers or explanations. This is what I heard and jotted down in my notes while listening to the session.

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Fellow CPAs, we need to step up our audit gameRead More »

Fellow CPAs, we need to step up our audit game Read More »

Disclosure of open tax years is now only required for a nonpublic entity that has material unrecognized tax benefits

Leave a Comment / Accounting / Jim Ulvog

Disclosing which fiscal years are open to audit by tax authorities has been required for nonpublic companies for several years. An explicit requirement came into play with Technical Practice Aid 5250.15.

Effective March 2015 that TPA was deleted. The requirement now is based on a comment buried in the Basis for Conclusions of ASU 2009-06, which says disclosure of open tax years is only needed when there are material unrecognized tax benefits.

Impact of TPA 5250.15

That requirement has produced a standard comment on all nonpublic entity financial statements that looks something like this:

The entity files income tax returns with the U. S. and (state) governments. With few exceptions, the entity is no longer subject to U.S. federal and state income tax examinations by tax authorities for years before 20×1.

The AICPA has deleted TPA 5250.15. That type of comment will not be required unless the entity has material unrecognized tax benefits.

What changed?

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Disclosure of open tax years is now only required for a nonpublic entity that has material unrecognized tax benefitsRead More »

Disclosure of open tax years is now only required for a nonpublic entity that has material unrecognized tax benefits Read More »

Minor updates on the banking fiascos: Forex settlements and a new fiasco

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

Settlements of private lawsuits are continuing. Also, settlements with CFTC underway for another rate manipulation scheme.

6/18 – Wall Street Journal – Banks’ Civil Forex Settlements Near $2 Billion/ Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and HSBC recently signed agreements to settle case – The settlements for private litigation over manipulation of foreign exchange rates are moving forward. Article says HSBC has settled up for $285M, Barclays for $375M, Goldman Sachs is in for $129.5M, and an unknown amount for BNP.

By my calculation that brings the total for seven banks to …

Minor updates on the banking fiascos: Forex settlements and a new fiascoRead More »

Minor updates on the banking fiascos: Forex settlements and a new fiasco Read More »

Post-release interview with Scott London – 1

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

Just finished watching a 2 hour webcast from CPA Crossings. Gary Zeune interviewed Scott London on what got him into prison on an 14-month sentence for securities law violation.

This interview will be available again on June 18 and June 22. More info here.

The four-hour interview from last June, before Mr. London reported to prison, will be broadcast again on June 15, 25, and 30. More info here.

I heartily recommend the webcast. If you are looking for an ethics course that’s a lot more interesting than the typical “here are the rules” presentation, check out one or both of the above webcasts.

I will have several articles on the interview over the next few days. Will talk about one part of the interview now –

Incarceration timeline

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Post-release interview with Scott London – 1Read More »

Post-release interview with Scott London – 1 Read More »

Speculation on upcoming bank settlements

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

Not much news on the bank fiasco front in the last week or so. Here are two articles pondering what settlements are on the horizon.

5/26 – Alison Frankel at Reuters – Forex class action deals may hint banks braced to lose Libor appeal – Citigroup settled up for $394M with private parties over manipulation of forex.

Article points to one settlement I missed:

1/5 – Reuters – JPMorgan settles currency manipulation lawsuit in U.S. – Morgan will settle up with about $100M.

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Speculation on upcoming bank settlementsRead More »

Speculation on upcoming bank settlements Read More »

Another webcast interview with Scott London in June

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

On June 8 you can tune in to a webcast from CPA Crossings for an interview with Scott London. Webcast will be rebroadcast on June 18 and 22.

Interviewer will be Gary Zeune. The session will be good for 2 hours of CPE.

More info and registration at CPA Crossings here.

The Bureau of Prisons website still shows Mr. London is under supervision of the Long Beach Residential Reentry Management office. …

Another webcast interview with Scott London in JuneRead More »

Another webcast interview with Scott London in June Read More »

Follow up articles on the $5.8B settlement from TBTF banks

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

A few articles of note on the humongous settlements from five banks for manipulating foreign exchange rates. Oh, and a trivial $0.1B settlement from Barclays for manipulating yet another swap rate.

5/20 – Wall Street Journal – Barclays Fined $115 Million by CFTC for Alleged Manipulation of ISDAfix – Barclays tried to manipulate another index which is used to calculate pension payouts. This is an interest rate swap index. Game playing ran from 2007 until 2012.

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Follow up articles on the $5.8B settlement from TBTF banksRead More »

Follow up articles on the $5.8B settlement from TBTF banks Read More »

Criminal guilty pleas for big banks are no longer a death sentence; more like a messy traffic incident that hit the papers. What that approach might look like in your life.

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

The banks that settled up for a massive coordinated effort to manipulate foreign exchange rates each agreed to plead guilty to one criminal count of violating anti-trust rules. That makes each of them a felon.

Will describe why that is no longer a big deal and then offer an analogy of what this approach might look like in the life of an individual. …

Criminal guilty pleas for big banks are no longer a death sentence; more like a messy traffic incident that hit the papers. What that approach might look like in your life.Read More »

Criminal guilty pleas for big banks are no longer a death sentence; more like a messy traffic incident that hit the papers. What that approach might look like in your life. Read More »

$5.6B for 5 banks to settle up on manipulating forex for customer’s accounts

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

Big settlement announced today to resolve the Forex manipulation cases. Big surprise for me is the NYDFS only came in at $485M, with all of that going against Barclays. I was guessing a higher amount with DFS wanting a settlement from all the banks.

Here are two articles with the details, then I’ll list the individual settlements: …

$5.6B for 5 banks to settle up on manipulating forex for customer’s accountsRead More »

$5.6B for 5 banks to settle up on manipulating forex for customer’s accounts Read More »

UBS will pay $545M for manipulating foreign-exchange rates. First of 5 expected settlements today

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

First in what is expected to be a string of settlements announced on Wednesday:

UBS Hit With $545 Million in Fines, from the Wall Street Journal.

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UBS will pay $545M for manipulating foreign-exchange rates. First of 5 expected settlements todayRead More »

UBS will pay $545M for manipulating foreign-exchange rates. First of 5 expected settlements today Read More »

Expect big news of big settlements for big banks next week

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

Multiple reports indicate UBS will join previously expected Barclays, JP Morgan, RBS, and Citigroup in settling up on their forex manipulation behavior next week.

A guilty plea to a felony criminal count is expected for all 5 TBTFs.

Biggest rumor is that DoJ may tear up the deferred prosecution agreement with UBS.

My wild guess of the dollar amount of the settlement? Four and a quarter billion. Reports i have seen over the past few weeks leave me wondering if that is just the DoJ settlements and doesn’t include NYDFS. If not, add another billion or three.

A few articles for more details:

http://fraudinfoblog.squarespace.com//fraud-info/2015/5/14/scarlet-letters-and-large-fines?hootPostID=6cd1af78b96858067766436572dd639b

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/business/dealbook/5-big-banks-expected-to-plead-guilty-to-felony-charges-but-punishments-may-be-tempered.html?_r=1&referrer

http://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-to-tear-up-past-ubs-settlement-1431645723

Expect big news of big settlements for big banks next week Read More »