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…
Since 1973, GAAP (APB Opinion 28) has recognized the acceptability of presenting condensed interim information by public companies as provided for in Article 10 of…
In Brief Many companies have increasingly turned to the reporting of non-GAAP measures, which fall outside the realm of generally accepted accounting principles and must…
CPAJ News Briefs
IASB, FASB News
IASB News Development of International Accounting Rules for Cryptoassets Stifled by Lack of Stability, Readiness IASB has said that because of insufficient use, stability, and…
Opening Remarks: The Road to Better Financial Reporting
Reflections on Comparability and Convergence
About the Speakers Wesley Bricker serves as the chief accountant for the SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA). (Editor's note: Bricker left the SEC in…
In Brief One of the goals of GAAP is to present a full picture of a company's financial situation, but for various reasons, companies often…
The Expanding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Understanding their Utility and Regulatory Limitations
In Brief There is a long history of businesses reporting non-GAAP financial measures, often to highlight a change in operating structure or illuminate the impact…
Since 1973, GAAP (APB Opinion 28) has recognized the acceptability of presenting condensed interim information by public companies as provided for in Article 10 of…
CPAJ News Briefs
FASB, Audit Practice News
FASB News SEC Disclosure Rules to Be Pulled Into GAAP As part of a broader effort to simplify compliance without significantly altering the total mix…
CPAJ News Briefs
FASB/PCAOB News
FASB News No New Guidance Planned for Financial Reporting Effects of Tax Reform Between guidance from the Big Four accounting firms, technical inquiries to FASB’s…
This article contains practical guidance and support as to the appropriate disclosure of the expected effects of significant future accounting changes from new GAAP standards…
CPAJ News Briefs
FASB/IASB News
FASB News Minor Technical Corrections Published for Lease Standard FASB has published an update to U.S. GAAP with 16 technical corrections for its much-watched lease…
The notion of sustainability is not an accounting concept, or even a business concept. Indeed, common English usage defines a sustainable entity merely as one…
Tax & Accounting Update is provided by Thomson Reuters and based on material published on Checkpoint, its online news and research platform. The Update is…
Private Company Accounting Standards
Survey of New York CPAs Finds Adoption Slow
The CPA profession has been debating the concept of separate accounting standards for closely held businesses for over 40 years. In the December 1972 Journal of…
FASB to Drop Obsolete Guidance for Steamship Companies
FASB/PCOAB/AICPA News
FASB News FASB to Drop Obsolete Guidance for Steamship Companies FASB has agreed to delete an outdated piece of guidance from U.S. GAAP governing a…
ICYMI | The State of FASB’s Simplification Initiative
Toward a Simpler GAAP
In Brief In recent years, FASB has made a priority of removing unnecessary complexity from FASB's accounting standards. The author gives a detailed accounting of…
Our Greatest Hits | A look at the modified cash basis
From The CPA Journal Archives
"Our Greatest Hits" is an effort to show our readers the most popular - and still avidly read - articles from our archives. This article…
ICYMI | A Refresher on Accounting for Leases
A Detailed Example under the Proposed Guidance
In Brief FASB’s long-debated exposure draft of a new standard on accounting for leases has raised the possibility that almost all leases will need to…
Recent Trends in Reporting Non-GAAP Income
An Example from Social Media Companies
In May 2016, the SEC issued new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (CDI) and modified others to revise its guidance on the reporting of non-GAAP financial…
Editor's note: The following is a supplement to the author's “Depreciable Asset Lives: The Forgotten Estimate in GAAP,” published in the September 2016 CPA Journal.…
FASB News Small Business Advisory Committee Seeks U.S. GAAP Exemptions Some members of FASB’s Small Business Advisory Committee (SBAC) have told the accounting board that,…
The State of FASB’s Simplification Initiative
Toward a Simpler GAAP
In Brief In recent years, FASB has made a priority of removing unnecessary complexity from FASB's accounting standards. The author gives a detailed accounting of…
Accounting for Leases
The New Standard
The second panel of the 15th Annual Financial Reporting Conference covered FASB's new standard on accounting for leases. The standard, which is 500 pages long,…
SEC | The Audit Committee Financial Expert
A Closer Look at What That Means
In 2003, the SEC adopted rules implementing section 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), requiring a public company to disclose whether at least…
“We're actually confusing people more than we were helping people understand what's going on in the business.” — Gregory Hayes, CEO of United Technologies, explaining…
Sustainability—Not GAAP Measurement
A Unique Opportunity
Ed Weinstein and Stanley Goldstein have been close friends for four decades and have agreed on almost everything. They were quite surprised a year ago…
The Going Concern Gap in U.S. GAAP
Filling a Hole in Existing Standards
Recent events, such as the fiscal crisis of 2007–2008 and the economic recession that followed, have prompted concerns about whether investors have received sufficient notice…