NASBA Blackballs AICPA from the Standard Setters’ Club
I have generally considered the developments regarding accounting standards for private companies over the past couple of years to be distractions from my focus on public company financial reporting. But it has come to the point where I have to…
How Managers Do Love the Leasing ED: Let Me Count the Ways
An excerpt from a WSJ blog: "Outgoing FASB Chairman Leslie Seidman has had plenty of time to tackle long-standing questions about whether accounting principles are more desirable than specific accounting rules, writes Emily Chasan. The debate over whether detailed rules…
For Whom Does the FASB Toil? (Not for Investors)
The FASB's exposure draft on loan losses is a huge disappointment: Investors will not be helped by this approach; The numbers produced by the ED will be whatever the bank CEO wants; The wording of the ED is so permissive…
Do Survey Results Mean that External Audits Don’t Protect Against Earnings Manipulation? (What a Surprise!)
The results of a recent E&Y survey investigating financial manipulation must stun even the most cynical observers of accounting practice,: Of the board members and senior management surveyed from companies in Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA), 42% stated that…
Could a Simple Spreadsheet Error Turn into Wall Street’s Watergate?
A couple of posts ago, I waded in on the infamous Reinhard & Rogoff spreadsheet error, in an attempt to extract lessons of a cautionary nature for accountants of public companies. Since then, two interesting developments have occurred. First, I…
Grilled Accounting Onions
Rob Nance of iShade, the online accounting network, recently interviewed me for his own blog. With Rob's permission, I'm repeating (with some minor edits to my responses) his post, below. * * * * * Ever read The Accounting Onion?…
Why We Love Spreadsheets Too Much
I have been a habitual spreadsheet user for 30 years, and a Keynesian for, like, forever. That particular pairing of predilections is probably why I experienced a brief and thrilling shiver of Schadenfreude as I read one of the many…
Loan Accounting? The Public Can’t Handle the Truth!
Even if the average citizen might have shrugged with resignation over the Senate's abandonment of gun control legislation, surely she must be in awe of the power of the NRA to bend democratically-elected senators to its will. On a less-visible…