facebook install now

Alas, I have not posted very much of late.  But, it's only because I am trying to find as much time as possible to write my book describing a simple, comprehensive and robust basis of accounting that any public company could…

In recent years I have presented an update on the activities of the PCAOB at the annual meeting of the Association of Audit Committee Members.  From that experience — particularly this past year — I can tell you that audit…

The accounting topic of the season is income taxes.  But, as the nation contemplates what Congress could end up passing, I want to talk about how one under-the-radar amendment to financial accounting standards has been quietly adding to the federal…

I marvel at how much mere happenstance can play in a career.  I might not have become a teacher, or gone to graduate school but for one meeting with an administrator when I was a senior at Cornell. Twenty years…

Cyber regulators deny rumors they approved VPN …:China's cyber regulators have denied they have given a company green light to sell VPN services in the nation, stating it was Cyber regulators deny rumors they approved VPN service Global Times Published: 2021-07-10 15:29:38

(Part 1 is here.) I have found that a useful way to home in on the drivers of audit quality is to regard an audit as two distinct engagements: (1) verifying facts, and (2) assessing whether management’s estimates “appear” reasonable.…

I was recently invited to make a presentation to a conference of auditors. The leadership asked me to address “professional skepticism,” one of those difficult-to-nail-down ideas, yet a recent point of emphasis in PCAOB inspections. The person who invited me knew…

A long time ago —  in 2004, to be exact — the FASB and IASB announced that they would jointly develop a common “conceptual framework.” They divided the work into eight phases.  It took them almost seven years to complete the…

There is more to the securities laws and their administration by the SEC than just the ’33 and ’34 Acts.  The Investment Company Act of 1940 focuses on disclosures by mutual funds and similar entities; and the Investment Advisers Act…

My Shareholder Oriented Financial Accounting (S-OFA) Standards will require that debits equal credits. Duh.  But if I am truly going to start with a clean sheet of paper, then I am compelled to explain how double-entry accounting serves a purpose.  I see three…