The recent Textron decision is causing quite a kerfuffle. The court permitted Internal Revenue Service to gain access to documents created by the defense-contracting firm to determine whether the company’s calculation of its tax liabilities would pass muster during a possible IRS audit. Textron was trying to shield the documents under the Work-Product Doctrine. Work-Product … Read more »
Category: Accounting
FBAR Filing Deadline Extended (For Some)
The deadline for Foreign Bank Account Reporting was June 30. The Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account is IRS TD F 90-22.1 (.pdf). Any United States person who has a financial interest in or signature authority, or other authority over any financial account in a foreign country, if the aggregate value of these accounts … Read more »
Is the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Unconstitutional?
That question is on the docket for the Supreme Court in October. The Court agreed to rule on the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB (08-861). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed in 2002 created PCAOB as a new government agency to regulate firms that audit the books of … Read more »
FBAR Deadline
The deadline for Foreign Bank Account Reporting is June 30. The Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account is IRS TD F 90-22.1 (.pdf). Any United States person who has a financial interest in or signature authority, or other authority over any financial account in a foreign country, if the aggregate value of these accounts … Read more »
The SEC’s Radical Disclosure Overhaul
My notes, live, from Dr. William Lutz on The SEC’s Radical Disclosure Overhaul. (Disclaimer: The presentation represents the views of Dr. Lutz and not necessarily the views of the SEC.) He started off with a definition of “Information”: That which reduces uncertainty. (From Shannon and Weaver’s Mathematical Theory of Communication) If it’s not information, it’s … Read more »
Supreme Court to Rule on Sarbanes-Oxley
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to rule on the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed in 2002 created PCAOB as a new government agency to regulate firms that audit the books of publicly traded companies. The key question in the case is whether the Act violated the separation-of-powers … Read more »
IRS Notice 2009-38 on Section 382 For Acquisition of Instruments Issued by Recipients of TARP Funds
The Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2009-38 (.pdf) to provide guidance when instruments are acquired by the Treasury Department under the Capital Purchase Program of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (“EESA”) and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”). The issue arose because of the massive amount of securities being acquired by the Treasury. If those … Read more »
Auditing Standard No. 5 for Smaller Companies
PCAOB released Staff Views for applying the provisions of PCAOB Standard No. 5 for audits of smaller, less complex public companies (.pdf) on January 23, 2009. Standard No. 5 is focused on assessing the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting. This Staff View of PCAOB Standard No. 5 discusses how to scale an audit … Read more »
Deloitte’s Year End Reporting Issues: An Update on Current Issues and Items on the Horizon
Deloitte, as part of their Financial Reporting Series presented a webinar on year end reporting issues. The panel consisted of: Bob Uhl Beth Ann Reese Glen Donovan Stuart Moss Valuations will be a hot topic for year end reporting. The problem is the current “market impairment” existing for many securities. Auction Rate Securities settlements offer … Read more »
ACFE Report to the Nation Occupational Fraud and Abuse
According to research conducted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), U.S. organizations lose an estimated 7 percent of annual revenues to fraud. Based on the projected U.S. Gross Domestic Product for 2008, this percentage indicates a staggering estimate of losses around $994 billion among organizations, despite increased emphasis on anti-fraud controls and recent … Read more »