- Small Firms Making More Restatements
The number of restatements made in the first half of 2006 rose 14 percent from early 2005, but the number of restatements made by large accounting firms has actually dropped. [more]
- Spreadsheets Enter the 21st Century
- The venerable spreadsheet -- indispensable accounting tool or budgeting nightmare? [more]
- Think You Can Live Without XBRL?
- Maybe for now, but soon tagging financial data with eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) will be indispensable. [more]
- Costs the Primary Reason for Rising Restatements
- According to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), "Financial Restatements: Update of Public Company Trends, Market Impacts, and Regulatory Enforcement Activities," cost- and expense-related issues were the drivers behind most financial restatements filed with the SEC between 2002 and 2005. [more]
- FASB Changes Pension Accounting Rules
- The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) finally brought the hammer down Friday and announced it will require publicly traded companies to account for pension and benefit plans on their financials upon completion of fiscal years ending after December 15. [more]
- Michael Oxley: "We Did a Good Job"
- At the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst Conference last week, Ohio Republican and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Michael Oxley defended the legislation he crafted with Maryland Senator Paul Sarbanes four years ago, saying, "We did a good job, all things considered. [more]
- IMA Management Accounting Statements Now Available to the Public
- The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) has reintroduced its Statements on Management Accounting (SMAs), which present the views of IMA (and a wealth of information) regarding management accounting and financial management issues. [more]
- Account Reconciliations: An Underutilized Internal Control?
- Since the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley, performing account reconciliations before filing SEC reports has become much more important in helping companies avoid potential material misstatements. [more]
- Hewitt Sets the Record Straight on Stock Options
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chief Accountant Conrad Hewitt issued an open letter to leaders of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Financial Executives International (FEI) on Tuesday, leaving no doubt that backdating stock options is a no-no. [more]
- Survey Finds BPM Popularity Keeps Climbing
The number of business performance management (BPM) initiatives continues to rise, the 2006 BPM Pulse Survey found. [more]
- PCAOB's Niemeier: "There's Nothing New in Sarbanes-Oxley"
- WebCPA.com editor Alicia Korney has published a pair of short articles (If SOX Were a Tree and In Some Ways, SOX Inevitable) analyzing Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) member Charles Niemeier's speech at the New York State Society of CPAs' annual Sarbanes-Oxley conference last week. [more]
- Reflections on IFRS: "International GAAP" Gets Underway
- More than 8,000 listed companies in the European Union applied International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in their financial statements last year -- most for the first time. [more]
- Dell Delays 10-K Filing, May Restate Earnings
Dell announced yesterday that it will delay filing second-quarter financial reports and is suspending its share buyback program due to a widening investigation into its accounting practices -- specifically "accruals, reserves and other balance sheet items that may affect the company's previously reported financial results," according to The New York Times. [more]
- Fraudulent Financial Statements Costliest Form of Fraud
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) has released its 2006 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, a comprehensive report that sheds light on occupational fraud and abuse while offering stark lessons and valuable insight about its prevention and detection. [more]
- PwC Faces IRS Audit
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the largest accounting firm in the world, is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service for potential violations in reporting its own taxes, according to a published report. [more]
- Predictive Analytics Simplifies Variance
Predictive analytics software is evolving from an emerging technology solution into a crucial branch of a unified business performance management framework. [more]
- International Standards Center Opens at DePaul
DePaul University's College of Commerce has launched the Center for Global Accountancy Education, Benchmarking and Research Center, which according to WebCPA.com will work closely with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. [more]
- Ventana Finds Value in Pre-built Report Templates
In theory, business intelligence (BI) tools were designed for the masses, but in practice, only a fraction of employees use them. [more]
- More Talk, Still Not Much Action in the XBRL Arena
When Forbes publishes an article extolling the potential benefits of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), you know the reporting format is gaining traction. [more]
- SEC Issues RFP for EDGAR XBRL Tool
Is that enough alphabet soup for you? [more]
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