Audit & Accounting

Accounting firms that have been able to report increased revenues during the economic downturn often have niche services, strategic promotion of these services, and a hard push behind their best people and expertise to thank for that growth.

SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE

Candidly, it has taken much longer than it should for us to fully comprehend and explain the gaping distinction between financial accounting and financial reporting. Since we figured it out, though, we've looked at things differently, to the point that we now believe a company's own transactions are not valid sources of useful information.

The head of a British accounting group is warning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Accounting Standards Board against pursuing a so-called “condorsement” approach to International Financial Reporting Standards.

IMGCAP(1)]In mid-2011, the American Institute of CPAs established a Service Organization Controls reporting framework in hopes of providing the public and CPAs with a clearer understanding of the reporting options for service organizations.

Accounting Today handed out the awards for the Best Accounting Firms to Work For 2011 at the Accounting Today Growth & Profitability Summit in Las Vegas.

U.S. and Hong Kong accounting organizations have inked a five-year mutual recognition agreement that would allow reciprocity between U.S. and Hong Kong CPAs.

More than half of global businesses are unaware of pending lease accounting changes that would virtually eliminate the use of off-balance sheet leases, according to a new survey by Grant Thornton.

Financial Accounting Standards Board chair Leslie Seidman gave a cautious thumbs-up to the so-called “condorsement” approach to incorporation of International Financial Reporting Standards in the U.S., while defending FASB’s authority over private company accounting standards.

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy has launched a new Web site, CPAverify.org, that provides a central database of state licensee information about CPAs practicing across the U.S.