News & Resources

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has rightly become the focus of massive public attention in recent weeks. In addition to concerns about the health of their workers, businesses may be concerned about how it will affect their financial results and the performance of their supply chain partners. Read more

The AICPA's Auditing Standards Board ("ASB") issued a revised attestation standard in December 2019. The revised standard gives accountants more flexibility when performing agreed-upon procedures ("AUP") engagements. Read more

Outside financial audits may seem like an extravagance to not-for-profits working to contain costs and focus on their mission. However, undergoing regular audits allows an organization to identify risks early and act quickly to prevent problems. Read more

Debt-strapped private companies have been exploring ways to avoid having to use the lease accounting rules for new contracts. Implementing the updated leases standard might cause some companies to trip their loan covenants and how to safeguard against this potential pitfall. Read more

Equity-based compensation awards can help companies attract skilled workers and boost performance. But accounting for these payments can be complicated and costly. Read more

In recent years, smaller public companies and private entities have been struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of change in accounting rules. In response, the FASB has proposed changing its philosophy for establishing effective dates for major new accounting standards. Read more

A solid system of internal controls translates into more reliable financial reporting and can help companies prevent, detect and correct financial misstatements. Read more

In July, the FASB voted to propose a sweeping set of split deferrals for certain entities. The proposal would delay new accounting rules for 1) leases, 2) credit losses on loans, 3) long-term insurance contracts, and 4) hedge accounting. Read more

Ideally, investors should be able to get sufficient information about a company's future cash flows by looking at the income statement. But they currently do not because expense information is too densely reported, according to recent discussions by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Read more

In February, Amazon backed out of plans to open a second headquarters in Queens, New York, because of community opposition to roughly $2.5 billion in government incentives. Read more

Many corporate directors want to increase board diversity to capture the benefits. This article highlights key findings from recent boardroom diversity studies and some characteristics, beyond gender and race diversity, that boards should look for in new members. Read more

Many private companies are still unaware of the balance sheet effects of new lease accounting rules, including lease capitalization requirements, that go into effect starting in 2020. This article explains what is changing and how private companies can adapt. Read more

In January 2019, the board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions published a report intended to promote audit quality. It outlines best practices for audit committees. Read more

Auditing standards require auditors to identify and assess the risks of material misstatement due to fraud and to determine overall and specific responses to those risks. Here is what auditors look for during fraud-risk interviews and why face-to-face meetings are essential. Read more

This article addresses steps 4 and 5 of the new revenue recognition model: allocation of the transaction price to performance obligations and recognizing revenue when, or as, performance obligations are satisfied. Read more

This step of the revenue standard addresses the determination of the transaction price in a contract arrangement. Topic 606 defines the transaction price as "the amount of consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring promised goods or services to a customer." Read more

In this article we dive deeper into steps 1 and 2 of the Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2014-09 Revenue from Contracts with Customers: identify the contract with a customer and identify the separate performance obligations in the contract. Read more

Many companies choose to lease certain assets, rather than buy them outright. Roughly 85% of these leases are not reported on company balance sheets, according to estimates made by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). However, that is going to change under a new accounting standard. Read more

If your company or non-profit enters into contracts, it may need to update the way revenue is reported under new accounting guidance that goes into effect for private companies with annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018 (in other works, calendar year 2019). Read more