Financial reporting

Accounting firm Crowe Horwath is responding to the wave of companies filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a set of services to help them navigate the reorganization process.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is distributing more than $35 million to over 98,000 investors who were harmed by accounting fraud at Cardinal Health.

IMGCAP(1)] As I spend time with CPA firms and learn about their approaches to developing their talent, exceptional programs rise to the top. One program that comes to mind is WIN@CG, Clifton Gunderson’s women’s initiative. This award-winning, results-oriented platform is worthy of emulation.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, an influential group of international banking regulators, has released a set of guiding principles to help the International Accounting Standards Board set new standards for financial instruments to deal with the aftermath of the financial crisis.

The economy has left many people, and the nonprofit organizations they rely on, in crisis. As a result, community service is more critical than ever.

In response to the global financial crisis, the International Accounting Standards Board has published a set of proposals to amend the discount rate for measuring employee benefits.

CFOs and senior-level accountants anticipate spending more of their time five years from now on non-accounting functions, according to a new survey.

IMGCAP(1)] I recently read an article challenging the reader to sum up one’s leadership in six words. I decided to apply this same challenge in describing my experience at the AICPA Leadership Academy. My six words: Amazing professionals. Thought provoking. Life changing.

The American Bankers Association has released a letter and white paper raising concerns over the process taken by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board in their financial instruments projects.

IMGCAP(1)]The Financial Accounting Standards Board took plenty of heat in April for loosening mark-to-market guidelines, a move that critics assailed as a gift to the financial industry and a nod to political pressures.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board plans to draft proposed updates to fair value accounting standards with new disclosure requirements.

IMGCAP(1)] All too often, professional leadership seminars fail to live up to their potential for lively, intellectually engaging discussions about current issues and those on the forefront. I recently returned from the AICPA’s Inaugural Leadership Academy in Chicago where 28 young CPAs discussed topics affecting accountants everywhere.

The American Bankers Association is objecting to the newest proposed accounting standards for financial instruments, claiming that they would dramatically expand the use of the much-maligned mark-to-market accounting.

The International Accounting Standards Board has published a set of proposals on the classification of rights issues to clarify their accounting treatment when they are in a currency other than the issuer’s.

Accounting firm Plante & Moran has introduced a “Liquidity Stress Test” tool that manufacturing businesses can use to assess their working capital needs.

Grant Thornton has introduced a service designed to speed companies through the bankruptcy and workout process.

Eli Mason, whose career in public accounting spanned more than seven decades as a practitioner, and a proponent of the profession, has died after a long illness.

General Electric has agreed to pay $50 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that the company reported false and misleading results in its financial statements.

IMGCAP(1)]In Fall 2008, I read about AICPA Board Chair Ernie Almonte’s vision for the Leadership Academy with great interest. Fast forward eight months, where I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago and attend the Academy. After three inspiring days of networking and roundtable discussions, it was no surprise to hear Almonte express to the participants of the inaugural Academy that it was the culmination of “a dream come true.”

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, reassured attendees at the American Accounting Association’s Annual Meeting that he had no intention of legislating accounting standards.