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New Accounting Guidance for Earnings-per-share

EPS is always important...especially when the rules change.  The speed at which accounting guidance is being issued amazes me.  I can't keep up.

PwC Sees Revenue Recognition Snags in IFRS

IFRS has me worried for our clients, particularly those in software.  Here are some observations from companies who have converted.

IFRS Date to Be Proposed, Sort Of

For those holding their breathe to hop onto the IFRS conversion, the SEC will confirm a date to mandate IFRS within 2 years.

Sloppy Spreadsheets

Beng accountants, we work with spreadsheets alot.  I saw this CFO.com article on the 'worst practices' for spreadsheets and had to smile when I read the reader comments.

All Sides Warm to IFRS as Global Standard

It looks like the train for International Financial Reporting Standards is gaining speed according to this article.  I must admit I have been sitting on the sidelines waiting to see the tipping point before I invest significant brain cells to IFRS. 

CPA = Copy and Paste Artist

We have an intern starting with us in July. He emailed me to ask what he could do to prepare for the internship (proactive = good). I haven't responded to him because I was trying to sort out all the things I would say. I even asked our recent hires what advice they would give anyone starting a new job with us. 

I started my internship at Arthur Andersen in the tax file room.  After two weeks of that, I graduated to copying workprograms from the previous year client files to prepare for the year's audit.  Back then, we used 14-column, yellow, (water-marked with 'Arthur Andersen') paper.  (14-column paper looks like 2 sheets of legal paper folded down the middle).  We documented our work in pencil (only the managers or partners wrote in pen.  We assumed they don't make mistakes that required erasng).   The seniors would tab the paperworks that we wanted to carry over to this year to save writing time.  Yours truly would copy and paste those schedules onto new 14-column paper.

The joke was that we were CPAs because of all the copying and pasting that we did.

Webcast- FIN 48:The First Quarter Experience

For those of you who have to implement the FIN 48, KPMG has an archived webcast that shares the experiences from the first quarter of implementation.  Keep in mind the implementation will continue to evolve. 

The Webcast featured a 90 minute panel discussion during which Ed Trott, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Member, Jim Brady, Managing Director, Ballantrae International, Ltd., Mike McGoldrick, Tax Director, Sunoco, Inc., and Kenneth Lee, CFA, Managing Director, Equity Research (Europe), Citigroup shared their different perspectives on some of the more significant questions raised by the first quarter adoption of FIN 48 such as documentation requirements, financial statement disclosures, the “road map” issue, and complying with FIN 48 going forward.