More Under Armour Red Flags...
November 20, 2009
Stock Jocks Punish Under Armour's Mathletes | www.cnbc.com
Under Armour's most recent 10K contains a number of financial reporting "red flags" that reflect a cavalier attitude toward financial reporting transparency.
What the Former SEC Chairmen Missed...
November 19, 2009
Don't Let Banks Hide Bad Assets | online.wsj.com
Conceptually, the arguments favoring fair value accounting are sound and quite appealing. Unquestionably, financial statement users will benefit from data about how a company’s assets and liabilities change in value during a reporting period. However, there are two major issues associated with fair value reporting that accountants, investors, legislators, and regulators need to address in the wake of our most recent financial crisis.
What Have the Accountants Done For Us Lately?
November 19, 2009
Systemic risk legislation threatens FASB’s independence | www.accountingweb.com
Debates about the causes of the recent financial crisis have yet to focus on the inability of financial institution independent auditors to provide adequate oversight over management’s valuations of financial instruments.
Bush Nominates Two Democrats to SEC: More of the Same is Likely
March 31, 2008
White House to Tap Two Dems to SEC | www.cfo.com
Will President Bush's recent nomination of two Democrats to the SEC make it more investor friendly? Not likely!
2007 Accounting Error of the Year: Depreciation and Amortization
January 2, 2008
Securities Suits Spike in 2007 | www.cfo.com
The subject article provides some interesting insights into the upward reversal in the number of securities class-action lawsuits filed during 2007. Given such, I thought it might be fitting to offer my personal insights into what I continue to believe is the most common, yet rarely noticed, accounting error. As in prior years, inappropriate depreciation and amortization methodologies once again gets my nomination for Accounting Error of the Year. Unfortunately, absent some unforeseeable improvement in oversight by corporate auditors and the SEC, I suspect that I will again be making the same nomination this time next year.
SEC Schedule II - Visibility into the Integrity of Reported Results
September 11, 2007
SEC Schedule II - Visibility into the Integrity of Reported Results | tinyurl.com
Few other disclosures give as much visibility into the integrity of a company’s reported results like the SEC’s Schedule II – Valuation and Qualifying Accounts. Unfortunately, despite such schedule being required of most public companies, few companies seemingly fully comply. The absence of otherwise required data, or worse, the outright omission of the schedule in its entirety, should raise investor concerns that a company may be engaging in some degree of inappropriate earnings management.
March 8, 2007
One Accounting Standard for All? | www.cfo.com
This article raises the question as to whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) will ultimately mandate that domestic public companies report their financial results pursuant to International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). I believe, as a former SEC Assistant Chief Accountant who had oversight responsibility for numerous foreign private issuers, that the answer is an unequivocal “yes.”
Grant Thornton Supports Lease Accounting Overhaul
December 29, 2006
Grant Thornton LLP Supports Review of Lease Accounting Rules as FASB/IASB Working Group is Named | home.businesswire.com
If they do not already do so, analysts need to begin proactively adjusting their models to reflect the assets and liabilities underlying “operating” leases onto the books of the companies they follow. It is no longer a question as to whether many current operating leases will go onto the books, its merely a question of when and how many!
Chinese Alternative to Sarbanes-Oxley: Ready, Aim, Fire!!!
December 29, 2006
Accountant Gets Death Penalty | www.cfo.com
Given the endless belly-aching by Corporate America and its agents about how draconian Sarbanes-Oxley is, even in the midst of a seemingly never-ending stream of accounting scandals, I thought that a little comical perspective may be in order. With that said, I submit this article which sets forth the Chinese alternative to Sarbanes-Oxley!
SEC: Merry Christmas to Small Public Companies
December 29, 2006
PCAOB Proposes AS2 'Repeal' | www.cfo.com
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s recent dismantling of AS2, its guide for auditors in their assessments of corporate internal controls over financial reporting, at the persistent urging of SEC Chairman Christopher Cox is further evidence of President Bush’s underlying agenda to disembowel Sarbanes-Oxley (“SOX”). Unfortunately, the consequences of such disembowelment will likely be disproportionately borne by investors in smaller public companies.
Sovereign and financial crises: Europe and the U.S.
January 18, 2012
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