Accountants Round Up

"Fraud and the Auditor"

By Steve Collings: Fraud has become a major issue within the accountancy profession over recent years and the accounting and audit profession has suffered a significant amount of embarrassment because of the failings whereby audit firms have either overlooked or ‘turned a blind eye’ to fraud.

This article considers the technical aspects of ISA 240 ‘The Auditor’s Responsibility to Consider Fraud in an Audit of Financial Statements’. The article is written from the perspective of a smaller audit client and aims to outline what smaller audit firms need to consider when looking at fraud issues and what they have to do if they discover a fraud.

Read complete article Fraud and the Auditor
Source: AccountingWEB-UK, 7 July 2008. Copyright © 2008 Sift Media. All rights reserved.

"Accountants Prep for New Standards"

By Tim Hyland: Bill Park has some advice for public companies staring down one of the biggest changes in American business history: the pending switch from the longstanding U.S.-based Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial reporting standard to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

That advice? Plan ahead.

Read complete article Accountants Prep for New Standards
Source: Philadelphia Business Journal, 4 July 2008. © 2008 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

"PCAOB Weighs Feedback on EQR Proposal"

By Ken Rankin: U.S. corporations and accountants concerned over rising audit costs due to Sarbanes-Oxley requirements may soon have more to worry about — including another spike in audit charges as a result of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s proposed new standard for engagement quality review.

The stricter standard, which was initially proposed back in February and would apply to audits of public companies performed under PCAOB standards, is risk-based and designed to ease identification and speed correction of audit deficiencies prior to issuing the auditor’s report.

Read complete article PCAOB Weighs Feedback on EQR Proposal
Source: WebCPA, 7 July 2008. © 2007 WebCPA and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Push for New Accounting Standards Gains Speed"

By Jeffrey H. Bimbaum: The Bush administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission are pressing forward with a plan that would allow American companies to opt out of using U.S. accounting standards in favor of international ones as a way to ease global business dealings and help corporations raise capital around the world.

But critics in Congress and elsewhere warn that the initiative threatens to let industry unravel investor protections enacted since the Enron scandal.

Read complete article Push for New Accounting Standards Gains Speed
Source: Washington Post.com, 8 July 2008. © Copyright 1996- 2008 The Washington Post Company. All rights reserved.

"Motivate Your Team"

By Bill Kennedy: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” In how many MBA classes, inspirational business speeches and management books has this speech by American President, John F. Kennedy been touted as the perfect motivational mission? (Example 1, example 2, example 3).

The latest to cross my desk is an article by Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden called “Motivation through Mission.” Their key concept is, “People don’t perform in an inspired manner without a big time commitment to a compelling cause.”

Read complete post Motivate Your Team
Source: Energized Accounting, 8 July 2008.

"Accountant's Business Changes, But Remains Strong"

By Lynn Ducey: There's a saying that the only sure things in this world are death and taxes.

And while he may not be that morbid, Joseph Hecht chose to become an accountant while attending Arizona State University because he knew it was a solid profession that could weather economic ups and downs.

Read complete article Accountant's Business Changes, But Remains Strong
Source: Phoenix Business Journal, 4 July 2008. © 2008 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

"Start Spreading the Word!"

By Liz Gold: Looking for strong leads to grow your financial planning practice? Try scouring your tax clients.

It may seem obvious, but internal marketing within your tax base is the best way to beef up your wealth management clientele, and is often a welcome service offering that can lead to referrals.

Read complete article Start Spreading the Word
Source: WebCPA, 7 July 2008. © 2007 WebCPA and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"GASB Issues Fair Value Derivatives Standard"

By WebCPA: The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has issued a new standard aimed at improving how state and local governments report information about derivative instruments in their financial statements.

GASB Statement No. 53, "Accounting and Financial Reporting for Derivative Instruments," covers the financial arrangements that governments use to manage specific risks or make investments. Statement 53 requires governments to measure most derivative instruments at fair value in their financial statements that are prepared using the economic resources measurement focus and the accrual basis of accounting.

Read complete article GASB Issues Fair Value Derivatives Standard
Source: WebCPA, 7 July 2008. © 2007 WebCPA and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"New CTA Exams: The Choice is Yours"

By Simon Groom: If we have choice we have too much to think about, but if we do not have choice we complain about being forced into something we do not want to do. As the saying goes, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, but generally I think we prefer to have choice rather than not. On that basis, those of us who like choice will welcome the new CTA structure which gives us plenty to think about. Now that the dust is beginning to settle following the launch by The Chartered Institute of Tax of its new CTA exam structure, potential students and firms are beginning to look carefully at their options, e.g. which papers to sit, how many exams to take at any one sitting and how to choose a training provider.

Read complete article New CTA Exams: The Choice is Yours
Source: AccountingWEB-UK, 4 July 2008. Copyright © 2008 Sift Media. All rights reserved.

"Risk Management Tops Audit Committee Agendas"

By SmartPros: Only 28 percent of audit committee members are "very satisfied" they understand the process that management uses to identify and assess significant business risks, and only 21 percent are "very satisfied" with the risk reports they receive from management, says a survey from KPMG and the National Association of Corporate Directors.   

And, while nine out of 10 respondents say their audit committee is more effective now than before the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation was enacted in 2002, many acknowledge there is still room for improvement -- particularly in the area of risk management, which they cited as their top priority.

Read complete article Risk Management Tops Audit Committee Agendas
Source: SmartPros, 3 July 2008. © 2007 SmartPros Ltd. All rights reserved.