Darn few, if anyone who wrote about the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's 600-page report has anything good to say about it. Jonathan Weil at Bloomberg may have described its shortcomings as well as anyone, and he also provides a vivid example of how the…
Last November, the FASB issued Proposed Accounting Standards Update 1900-100, Transfers and Servicing (Topic 860): Reconsideration of Effective Control for Repurchase Agreements: "During the global economic crisis, capital market participants questioned the necessity and usefulness of the collateral maintenance guidance…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…