Compliance
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FASB extends lease accounting standards until January 2021
Private companies and nonprofits get a one-year reprieve on new standards for showing lease obligations in their financials.
By Robert Freedman • Oct. 17, 2019 -
Since Enron, most countries have adopted accounting standards
The next phase is to gain widespread adoption of investigation and discipline standards — in short, give standards more teeth.
By Robert Freedman • Oct. 14, 2019 -
Digital coin offering effectively an unregistered IPO, SEC says
The Telegram Group's $1.7 billion sale of its digital coin offering is based on investor expectations they'll benefit from the company's open network, but the SEC argues otherwise.
By Robert Freedman • Oct. 14, 2019 -
Stopping travel and expense 'leakage' before it becomes a big loss
Employees typically submit $10,150 a year in reimbursements. Make sure your T&E policy provides tools for reining in unnecessary expenses.
By Robert Freedman • Oct. 08, 2019 -
Look at evidence before splitting up audit firms, accounting coalition says
The International Federation of Accountants and other global accounting associations say firms that combine audit and non-audit work tend to perform better than those that only perform audits.
By Robert Freedman • Oct. 03, 2019 -
Former auto group CFO faces $50M fine, 20 years for financing fraud
The finance executive of the now-bankrupt auto dealer contrived fake sales that cost Ford Motor Credit millions of dollars.
By Robert Freedman • Oct. 01, 2019 -
Fiat Chrysler to pay $40M over misleading investors on sales
The company touted uninterrupted sales growth between 2012 and 2016. In months when the streak would have ended, it reported old sales as though they had just occurred, the SEC said.
By Robert Freedman • Sept. 29, 2019 -
PwC settles with SEC for $7.9M over audit violations, improper conduct
The firm exercised decision-making authority on behalf of some public clients, violating audit independence rules.
By Robert Freedman • Sept. 23, 2019 -
Former Viking Energy CEO charged with lying about CFO
The company operated without a finance chief despite a CFO signature appearing on annual and quarterly reports.
By Robert Freedman • Sept. 18, 2019 -
How to meet states' new economic nexus tax collection obligation
As of last year, companies may be required to collect sales and use tax, even without physical nexus in a state, if it conducts a certain amount of business there.
By Robert Freedman • Sept. 18, 2019 -
SEC fines Marvell Technology $5.5M in revenue manipulation scheme
The company's use of pull-in sales masked a substantial decline in customer demand, a loss of market share and reduced future sales, the agency said.
By Robert Freedman • Sept. 16, 2019 -
Deep DiveLiving with GILT(I): How to apply the new tax on intangible overseas assets
The Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI) calculation is designed to prevent tax base erosion resulting from the transfer of intangible assets to foreign subsidiaries in low-tax countries.
By Ed McCarthy • Sept. 15, 2019 -
Former KPMG audit chief receives prison sentence for 'steal-the-exam' role
A former 30-year KPMG executive was found guilty earlier this year of trying to give auditors a head's-up on which audits were to be reviewed by a federal regulator.
By Robert Freedman • Sept. 12, 2019 -
Auditors' ears are always listening, consultant says
Risk management encompasses all aspects of an operation, from the tone coming out of the C-suite to what finance staff say to auditors at dinner.
By Robert Freedman • Sept. 11, 2019 -
SEC charges former CEO, CFO with fraudulent bond scheme
Executives inflated the value of bonds their lenders used to collateralize loans to the company.
By Robert Freedman • Sept. 02, 2019 -
RSM US fined $950K for auditor independence violations
Affiliates of the accounting firm provided services to affiliates of companies it was auditing, the SEC said.
By Robert Freedman • Aug. 27, 2019 -
SAExploration names interim CFO amid SEC probe, restatement of financials
Restating past earnings, along with being costly to a company's bottom line, erodes customer loyalty, and an executive board's new leadership must show substantial, good-faith efforts to restore the trading public's trust.
By Jane Thier • Aug. 22, 2019 -
Kraft Heinz blasts commissioners' comments after $16M settlement
The CFTC alleged the company manipulated the wheat futures market, but the company filed a complaint after individual commissioners spoke about the case.
By Robert Freedman • Aug. 19, 2019 -
SEC charges former CFO of cash advance company with fraud
Alan Heide allegedly signed investors' monthly account statements despite knowing they overstated the company's value and falsely represented the financials.
By Robert Freedman • Aug. 16, 2019 -
SEC easing public companies' business disclosures
Public companies have more flexibility in describing their business and the risks they face in proposed changes to SEC rules.
By Robert Freedman • Aug. 13, 2019 -
IRS aims to curb ID theft with truncated Social Security numbers on W-2s
Starting with returns filed after Dec. 31, 2020, executives can replace the first five digits of employees' Social Security numbers with Xs or asterisks.
By Robert Freedman • Aug. 07, 2019 -
$650 million Equifax settlement a wake-up call for CFOs, security expert says
CFOs are advised to devote the resources to put verification systems in place to avoid the kind of consumer data breach that hit Equifax.
By Jane Thier • Aug. 02, 2019 -
OpinionAs simple as it sounds, just identifying your leases is the highest hurdle to new FASB standards
CFOs of private companies don't have much time to comply with new lease accounting standards even if FASB extends the start date a year, as it has proposed.
By Marc Betesh • Aug. 02, 2019 -
SEC hits Brixmor CFO, former REIT execs with $7M fraud fine
Executives improperly manipulated same-property NOI reporting, subjecting their company to the SEC fine.
By Robert Freedman • Aug. 02, 2019 -
FASB to delay lease accounting rules until 2021
New lease accounting standards won't go into effect until 2021 for private companies in a FASB proposal that's expected to be adopted soon.
By Robert Freedman • Aug. 01, 2019
