At an annual conference last week sponsored by Financial Executives International on current financial reporting issues, panelists shared tips and best practices gleaned from their first-year experience complying with Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley. Hanish “The No. 1 key to sustainability for our company is the tone at the top,” said Arnold Hanish, chief accounting officer […]
Tammy Whitehouse
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
FEI Attendees Debate Key Accounting Issues
The Financial Executives International convened its annual conference on Current Issues in Financial Reporting last week at the New York Hilton, bringing together financial statement preparers and users, standard setters, rule makers, and academics to update and debate the emerging trends in corporate financial reporting. Lattice vs. Black-Scholes Spieler As companies implement new accounting rules […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Study: SPE Accounting Variations Mask True Cash Flow
Cash flow classifications are so flexible that companies are reporting like transactions in different ways, masking true cash flow and exacerbating comparability among companies, according to a new report from the Georgia Tech Financial Analysis Lab. It’s not a case, however, where companies are pushing the limits of accounting rules to bolster their own results, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Lots Of Talk, Still Not Much Action On ERM
Companies are starting to think more about the risks they face when making business decisions, but they are not yet fully considering those risks during the decision-making process. Hexter “We’re still seeing that most companies are in the very early stages,” said Ellen Hexter, program director and senior research fellow for the Conference Board. “There’s […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
FASB Plans Overhaul Of Pension Accounting Rules
Amid crumbling pension plans and cries for fair value accounting and plain English disclosure, accounting standard setters have decided to take a look at overhauling the rules governing pension accounting. The Financial Accounting Standards Board said it will begin with a short-term project to bring footnote disclosures onto the balance sheet, to cast more light […]
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New Guidance On Stock Option Taxes, SPEs, More
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has finalized its guidance on three separate accounting issues that have raised questions in corporate finance circles. First, FASB issued its staff position—No. FAS 123(R)-3, Transition Election Related to Accounting for the Tax Effects of Share-Based Payment Awards—on how companies should report the tax impact of stock option expensing if […]
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FASB Rejects IFRS Project; Reconciliation Bristles SEC
The Financial Accounting Standards Board decided not to take up a project requested by first-time adopters of new accounting rules in Europe to relieve some reporting or reconciliation requirements. FASB said it was asked to eliminate certain differences between net income and equity as reported under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for companies that are […]
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The Street’s View Of Stock Expenses, Pro Forma Earnings
To include or exclude stock-based compensation expense in analysis and discussion of company earnings? That is the question analysts and investors will face as companies roll out earnings statements reflecting new stock option expensing rules. Bronson “From a Wall Street perspective, my current take is that most analysts will strip this out from their estimates, […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
The Shift Toward Principles; Rules On Gifts; More
As standard setters try to steer the accounting profession toward a more principles-based approach to accounting rules, the rule makers and their advisors continue to wrestle with how to achieve the shift and how much implementation guidance to offer along the way. In the latest annual survey of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, which […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
New Fair Value Guidance On Measuring Derivatives; More
In another step along the pathway to fair value accounting, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued a proposed staff position that seeks to clarify how companies should account for unrealized gains or losses on derivatives measured at fair value. The guidance addresses a quandary regarding how companies should recognize a gain or a loss for […]
