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…
IFRS Adoption by the US: Definitely Not in the “Public Interest”
It is my pleasure and privilege to provide you with an original essay from someone else besides yours truly. Michael Pakaluk received his A.B. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University, and has taught at Clark, Brown and CUA, among…
Is GM’s Equity For Real?
GM's recent filing of its registration statement with the SEC represents the collision of two topics I have written about. First, the fortuitous arrival of $30.2 billion of "goodwill" on GM's balance sheet so soon after the company crammed a…
Proposed ASU No. EITF100F: Health Care Entities Can Choose Their Poison
If you are teaching an accounting class, here's a simple and timely (I'll explain why, later) assignment for your students: Facts: Company XYZ is a manufacturer that is being sued by a person claiming that she was injured from using…
GM’s Future IPO: Whom Can Investors Trust?
Not only does General Motors' CEO, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., want to take GM public ASAP, he is asking the federal government to sell its $50 billion (!) stake at the same time. That's all well and good, but I…
An IASB Member Unleashed
I can't cite chapter and verse for this, but experience tells me that there is a cardinal rule for IASB and FASB members that goes something like this: 'If you can't say something nice about board deliberations, then don't say…
ASU 2010-19: When a Dollar of Cash Is More Than a Dollar on the Balance Sheet
If you think you can find a larger wart on the backside of US GAAP than the one I am about to describe, then give it your best shot. Here it is in a nutshell: a careful and cynical application…
Is Mary Schapiro a “Mythbuster” or a Myth Maker?
On the science/entertainment TV show, Mythbusters, a zany cast of characters attempt to smash various colorful or popular myths to smithereens (often literally) using the scientific method (sort of). Can duct tape really be used to float a boat? Which…
FASB Could Have Easily Stopped the Repo Accounting Games: They Should Explain Why They Haven’t
On April 19th, FASB Chair Robert Herz submitted a letter to the House Financial Services Committee, explaining the accounting standards that applied to Lehman's repo transactions. In desperate hope that the Committee will also ask whether and how those repo…
On IFRS, CA Magazine Publishes what JofA Won’t
The April issue of CA Magazine, which is published by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, has a lengthy feature article provocatively entitled "IFRS: Dead in the USA?". It author is Lawrence Quinn, a freelance writer based in Atlanta. Thus,…