Audit & Accounting

Companies that plan to sell or spin off part of their business should be aware of some recent changes in accounting standards for “discontinued operations” that are taking effect this year.

Top 100 firm WithumSmith+Brown’s partner, Edward Mendlowitz, came up with the idea to highlight accountants on trading cards, just like the ones you swapped out and played with as a kid when baseball cards were a thing. They teamed up with The Topps Company, Inc. to create a series of accounting trading cards commemorating accountants from the past.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has upgraded its EDGAR online system for financial filings and will no longer support an older version of the U.S. GAAP financial reporting taxonomy.

The Tax Office of Tomorrow

Investors and regulators are hoping to see the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board somehow reconcile their differing approaches to accounting for loan impairments and credit losses in their financial instruments project.

I’ve worked to identify vendor risk and help companies prevent fraud as a certified fraud examiner for almost 10 years, and it’s given me a unique perspective on how fraud is perpetrated. The fact is, it’s easier for someone to “turn to the dark side” and decide to commit corporate fraud than you may think. Here’s what they could do.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is proposing new recognition and measurement guidance for governments that benefit from irrevocable split-interest agreements.

The Institute of Internal Auditors and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at advancing internal auditing and accounting practices globally.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued two proposed accounting standards updates with the goal of simplifying employee share-based payment accounting and the equity method of accounting for investments.

The institute has recommended to the IRS that taxpayers making an accounting method change for mischaracterized research and experimental expenditures under Sec. 174 should compute a Sec. 481 (a) adjustment.