An open letter to the CPAs who audit R&D charities receiving GIK meds

Leave a Comment / Audits /

(Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

Dear colleagues:

If you would like some background on the GIK issues, please read my open letter to your clients.

The accounting is problematic for donated pharmaceuticals that you have been auditing for the last few years.

If you have a budget of 100 or 300 hours, it might be wise to allocate a few hours to read beyond AICPA risk alerts and Accord position papers. You can browse my blog for  discussions, which contain links to other resources that also discuss the accounting and valuation issues.

It is my considered opinion that many of the valuations are not supportable under GAAP.  The timing of SFAS 157 isn’t the issue.

The amount of scrutiny on your client’s valuation methodologies is high and increasing.

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An open letter to the CPAs who audit R&D charities receiving GIK medsRead More »

An open letter to the CPAs who audit R&D charities receiving GIK meds Read More »

Journey through a peer review – field work finished – next step is technical review

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Seventh in a series.  Field work wrapped up yesterday for my peer review.  The reviewer gave me a draft report. I can’t discuss it until it is accepted by the Peer Review Committee.

The next step is for the reviewer to finish a bunch of checklists and send them to the technical reviewer.  …

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Journey through a peer review – field work finished – next step is technical review Read More »

Journey through a peer review – field work is today

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Here’s part 6 of the tale of my journey through my peer review.

Today is field work. The reviewer will arrive at my office soon. Expect him to be here most of the day.

Spent a few minutes yesterday pulling together a few more documents I know he will want to see. Also set up an extra computer for his use while he reads a bunch of workpapers.

I won’t be talking about the results of the review for a long time.

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Journey through a peer review – field work is today Read More »

On the other hand, you cannot say banks are underregulated

Leave a Comment / Pondering /

Cooking Libor. Money laundering. What are the big banks doing?

Where are the regulators?

I’ve been scratching my head about some of the things banks have been doing lately, such as manipulating Libor. Other people have long been blaming banks and other financiers as the primary cause of the 2008 financial crisis. I am definitely not in that camp, but that’s a topic for another day and a dozen posts. HSBC is setting a $1.5 billion reserve for possible fines related to money laundering, since they apparently allowed $7 billion to move from Mexico to the US in violation of US law.

In the midst of that head scratching, many people are wondering, where were the regulators? In the Libor issue at least, they were well aware of what was going on.

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On the other hand, you cannot say banks are underregulatedRead More »

On the other hand, you cannot say banks are underregulated Read More »

“Small GAAP” is almost here – AICPA releases draft of reporting framework

Leave a Comment / Accounting /

It’s been under discussion since I was in college. I hear tell it has been discussed for around 40 years.

What is “it”?

Small GAAP. Some set of accounting rules that aren’t as complicated as GAAP and are more useful for smaller, simpler organizations.  Something without fair value, variable interest entities, or derivative accounting so complex you need a new master’s degree to understand it.

There are two versions of a small GAAP on the horizon. One from FASB and the other from the AICPA.

This week the AICPA released the exposure draft of Proposed Financial Reporting Framework for Small- and Medium-Sized Entities.  At the moment that’s going to be called FRF for SMEs.

I think this is going to be a very big deal.

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“Small GAAP” is almost here – AICPA releases draft of reporting frameworkRead More »

“Small GAAP” is almost here – AICPA releases draft of reporting framework Read More »

Journey through a peer review – initial engagement selection

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Part five of my journey through the peer review process.

Since submitting the list of engagements, which I discussed last post, I got back a list of engagements my reviewer wants to look at. He will make an additional surprise selection when he arrives.

He will need a few more things before field work.  I sent him a copy of the financial statements for each of the engagements he selected.

For the audits, I also filled out a profile sheet. You can see the nonprofit form here, assuming you are an AICPA member and can login to their site.

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Journey through a peer review – initial engagement selection Read More »

Journey through a peer review – forms to prep for field work

1 Comment / Peer Review /

Part 4 of my journey through the peer review process for this cycle.

Well, after signing an engagement letter with the reviewing firm I need to get the initial round of checklists completed.

List of engagements

My peer review year ends May 31. This weekend I accumulated a list of completed engagements for clients whose fiscal year ended within my peer review year. That means I listed my clients whose fiscal year ended between in June 2011 and May 2012. Not when I issued the reports, but the client’s year-end. 

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Journey through a peer review – forms to prep for field work Read More »

Parody versus satire – figuring out the difference while getting a clue about Gangnam style

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /

Want to get up to speed on the difference between parodies and satires and why one is okay and the other can cost you a bundle? Want to get up to speed on this Gangnam Style thingie that is going on now?

If you answer yes to either question, I have a post at my other blog, Nonprofit Update, that discusses an article by Mr. Kenneth Liu, of the law firm of Gammon and Grange. 

Mr. Liu explains the differences between parody (legally protected) and satire (can get you in trouble) in the context of an extremely popular video “Oppa Gangnam Style”.

While parody and satire may not be really popular issues, the article will help you distinguish one from the other. The video, by the way, has close to 500 million views. I’m guessing that is rather higher than the number of views Mr. Liu will ever get.

Check out the link:

Parody versus satire – one is okay and the other can get you in trouble. Gangnam Style video as a teaching tool.

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As you use social media, remember anything you post in private could be revealed one day

Leave a Comment / Social media /

On my other blog, Nonprofit Update, I have a post discussing an article in the Wall Street Journal about two college students who had some intimate private details of their lives revealed to the world when they didn’t want that to happen.

We all need to remember that private information may not stay private. Use social media accordingly.

We don’t need to avoid social media or be frightened. We do need to be careful.

See: Always remember that anything you post in social media could one day be revealed to the world

 

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Document retention timeline for auditors in California – also document retention policy needs to be in writing

Leave a Comment / Audits /

Another reminder for all of us from the California state law that applies to CPAs:  There is a requirement for auditors to retain audit documentation for 7 years from report release date.

Here’s the state code from section 5097:

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Document retention timeline for auditors in California – also document retention policy needs to be in writingRead More »

Document retention timeline for auditors in California – also document retention policy needs to be in writing Read More »

Final defendant sentenced in city corruption case

Leave a Comment / Fraud /

The Daily Bulletin reports that Final defendant in Pomierski case sentenced to one year, one day.

The fourth defendant was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for his role as middleman in the bribery case involving the mayor of a city next to where I live.

There was one guilty conviction and three guilty pleas. The sentences are two years, one year & one day, one year & one day, and six-month prison & six months home detention. That wraps up the sentencing.

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Final defendant sentenced in city corruption case Read More »