(Note to readers — I have deleted the reference to Worldcom in a previous version of this post. A dialogue with one reader caused me to re-consider my statement that account roll forwards could have saved an audit process that…
It recently occurred to me that the ongoing Disclosure Framework project and the comatose Financial Statement Presentation project have three things in common: Neither current disclosure nor presentation standards promote high quality financial reporting (perhaps one of the few things…
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…
Hewlett Packard Co. claims they were 'misled' (to put it mildly) by accounting 'misstatements' (to put it mildly) into overpaying, on the order of $8 billion, to acquire Autonomy. But, if anybody outside of HP has precise knowledge of those…