New PCAOB Chair Appears to Have His Heart in the Right Place
After I left the SEC, Executive Enterprise Institute signed me up to produce and chair various SEC and financial reporting courses. Our collaboration is still going strong, and they have given me lots of exposure to guest speakers, many of…
The Revenue Recognition Project: Death by a Thousand Comments
The revenue recognition project has become a mess. Even the AICPA was forced to say as much to the FASB, while at the same time knowing that it would likely kill any prospects of IFRS adoption. But, the AICPA's definition…
What’s Going to Happen to Financial Reporting in 2011?
I predict that 2011 will be a year full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing to advance the cause of high quality financial reporting. You can take it to the bank – by which I mean any one of…
Is Revenue Recognition the Death Knell for IFRS Adoption?
It is said that big surprises come in small packages. Last week's "small package" was a brief article in the AICPA's online edition of its Journal of Accountancy, reporting that its own Financial Reporting Executive Committee (formerly the Accounting Standards…
Entry Price vs. Exit Price: One (Really Smart) Appraiser’s Point of View
Whenever I write about valuation or IFRS convergence, I know that an email from Alfred King will be arriving shortly. Alfred has been living and breathing valuation for decades, and he has served on numerous committees of FEI, IMA and…
A Loan Accounting Problem to Make “Amortized Cost” Proponents Squirm
Some folks can see fine art in a soup can label, or poetry in a user's manual. I don't mean to brag when I state that I have a similar talent. I seem to have a knack for stumbling upon interesting accounting…
SEC Staff Report on IFRS Roadmap: The Public Deserves to Know More
Last February the SEC announced, that their IFRS Roadmap had morphed into a "staff work plan." The staff was supposed to publish its first progress report sometime in October, and wouldn't you know, it was posted to the SEC's website…
The Big Four: Too Few to Fail
As I wrote a few weeks ago, the most recent display of public handwringing is taking place in Europe over the distinct possibility that one of the Big Four could be forced out of the auditing business. According to a…