My writings in this blog have focused on the absence of linkages between financial reporting and the economic concepts like wealth and value creation/destruction. But, accounting is more than applied economics. Individuals acquire accounting information before making decisions; and heuristics…
I was in Minneapolis a couple of months ago, and my client was kind enough to put me up in a very swanky hotel near its offices. While waiting for my dinner at the lobby bar (I don't like to…
Yesterday's blog post from Jim Peterson (Re:Balance) excoriated the PCAOB for proposing to require audit firms to disclose the names of the responsible engagement partners. Jim claims that the PCAOB is wasting its time: the name of the engagement partner…
In my previous post, I provided my reactions to Hans Hoogervorst's recent letter to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), in which he expressed concern for the pie-in-the-sky numbers produced by some EU banks on their Greek bonds classified…
The following is more (see my earlier post) from PCAOB chair Jim Doty's June 2nd speech, describing an auditor's failure to correct an accounting misstatement that was "galling in its simplicity": "PCAOB inspectors found at one large firm that an…
This post more or less (actually somewhat more, than less) mirrors my answers to questions posed by Matt Kelly, editor of Compliance Week in a recent podcasted interview. The subject was audit firm term limits, or mandatory audit firm rotation;…
Lots of "rethinking" has been going on of late. There's a new SEC staff paper rethinking how to take IFRS adoption/convergence off life support; and the FASB and IASB are rethinking how much they can give away to special interests regarding…
The Senate Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment has announced that it will meet this Wednesday to conduct a hearing entitled "The Role of the Accounting Profession in Preventing Another Financial Crisis." "The witnesses on Panel I will be: Mr.…
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…
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…