This article examines the initial impact of the adoption of ASU 2016-02 (ASC Topic 842, Leases), which requires lessees to record assets and liabilities for…
In October 2016, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-16, Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory, amending Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 740. The new…
Dividend-Protected Stock Compensation Awards
Accounting and Tax Considerations
The recipients of stock compensation awards may be entitled to the dividends that companies pay on their underlying equity shares, while the stock awards are…
Accounting Standards Update 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, modifies the accounting and reporting of foreign currency forward contract…
ICYMI | Audit Oversight and Effectiveness
Understanding the Past and Looking toward the Future
In Brief It has been nearly two decades since the creation of the PCAOB in response to a series of major financial reporting failures. But…
The Impact of COVID-19 on Sales and Production
SFAS 151’s Guidance for Financial Statements
The decline of economic activity due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and resulting economic disruptions will certainly require some manufacturing companies to make adjustments under…
In Brief The AICPA Auditing Standards Board recently issued SAS 134, Auditors Reporting and Amendments, Including Amendments Addressing Disclosures of Financial Statements, and SAS 135,…
In Brief Since the PCAOB issued its requirements for the reporting of critical audit matters (CAM), there has been much debate about how to interpret…
Audit Oversight and Effectiveness
Understanding the Past and Looking toward the Future
In Brief It has been nearly two decades since the creation of the PCAOB in response to a series of major financial reporting failures. But…
Mind the GAAP
The Evolution of the Auditor’s Role and the ‘Fraud Expectation Gap’
Newly minted CPAs typically have limited hands-on auditing experience. They almost always have no training in specialty areas, such as forensics. A term now commonly…
ICYMI | Seven Years at the Forefront of Standards Setting
A Look Back from Outgoing FASB Chairman Russell G. Golden
In Brief For the last seven years, Russell G. Golden has served as FASB's chairman. During this time, and for the nine years previously, he…
ICYMI | Managing the Going Concern Risk in an Uncertain Environment
An Analysis of Regulatory Guidance and Financial Relief for the COVID-19 Pandemic
In Brief The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has affected businesses of every size in every country, and the United States has been hit particularly hard. Many…
In Brief Although its full implementation has been delayed, FASB's new standard on current expected credit losses (CECL) continues to create issues for financial statement…
Preparing for Peer Review in a Pandemic
Tailoring Internal Quality Control Inspections for New Risks
In this author's article in the May 2020 CPA Journal (“Financial Reporting and Auditing Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Practical Guidance,” pp. 26-33, https://www.cpajournal.com/2020/06/08/financial-reporting-and-auditing-implications-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/), many new…
Factor Fiction under ASU 2016-15
A Deep Dive into Cash Flows from Trade Receivable Arrangements
The implementation of ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flow Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments (Topic 230), has led to an increased focus on…
CECL Encounters a ‘Perfect Storm’
Complexity, Crisis, and Uncertainty
In Brief After years of deliberation and comment, FASB's long-awaited standard on accounting for credit losses, in the form of ASU 2016-13, was finally issued…
ICYMI | Financial Reporting and Auditing Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Some Practical Guidance
In Brief The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life around the world, but business, in altered fashion, goes on. Companies will have to report on their…
Trust is among the most important commodities in the world, and it is in increasingly short supply. The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, a yearly survey…
Managing the Going Concern Risk in an Uncertain Environment
An Analysis of Regulatory Guidance and Financial Relief for the COVID-19 Pandemic
In Brief The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has affected businesses of every size in every country, and the United States has been hit particularly hard. Many…
Financial Reporting and Auditing Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Some Practical Guidance
In Brief The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life around the world, but business, in altered fashion, goes on. Companies will have to report on their…
Seven Years at the Forefront of Standards Setting
A Look Back from Outgoing FASB Chairman Russell G. Golden
In Brief For the last seven years, Russell G. Golden has served as FASB's chairman. During this time, and for the nine years previously, he…
How ASU 2018-12 Affects the Timing of Earnings Emergence
The Potential Impact for the Insurance Industry
The insurance industry deals in the unknown. Insurance companies provide their customers with protection from future events—some foreseeable, many unexpected. They employ actuaries who design…
The Continuing Evolution of Accounting Alternatives for Private Companies
Recognition of Identifiable Intangible Assets in a Business Combination
In Brief In 2014, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2014-18, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Accounting for Identifiable Intangible Assets in a Business Combination, a consensus…
The Tangle of Intangible Assets and Business Combinations
Related Standards: Past, Present, and Future
In Brief Since January 2014, FASB has issued several significant pronouncements on business combinations and intangible assets; however, the interaction between the two remains complex,…