August 2012 - Journal of Accountancy

Fraud is not an accounting problem or an internal control problem; it is a human problem. Not even the strongest system of controls can eliminate all risk of organizations’ being defrauded by employees who are sufficiently motivated to find loopholes, ways to override controls, or opportunities for collusion. While most

This is more than a story about six men, all of them admitted white-collar criminals. It is more than a story about their fraud schemes, which resulted in total combined losses of nearly $4 billion. This is the story of what CPAs can learn from these men—from their motives and

Fears of a “double-dip” recession in 2012 may have subsided, but the overall economic forecast remains uncertain. Therefore, companies are looking beyond organic, internal growth to external growth sources to bolster company performance. A recent study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) touted the power of acquisitions for growth during

Small businesses are significantly more likely than their larger counterparts to neglect instituting basic antifraud controls that could save them from costly losses, a recent worldwide survey shows. Organizations with fewer than 100 employees were significantly outpaced by larger organizations in every fraud control measured in the Association of Certified

In accordance with recently proposed revisions to professional standards, CPAs who prepare financial statements for clients would consider that a nonattest bookkeeping service and would no longer be required to perform a compilation service with respect to those financial statements unless engaged to do so. The changes, proposed in June

CPA firms and other businesses need to keep cybersecurity top of mind as they look to cash in on opportunities created by the growth of mobile and cloud computing. “It’s all about managing risk,” accounting-technology expert David Cieslak, CPA/CITP, CGMA, told a packed audience during his annual Security Update session

The corporate finance professionals who climb the value chain will be interpreters and collaborators, able to leverage data as a strategic asset while working across functions to solve problems and innovate. As the volume of information increases, they will play a critical role in determining the integrity of information and

During inflationary times, companies can reduce their taxable income by using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) cost flow assumption for inventories. However, the tax savings from using LIFO come at a cost. Under the LIFO conformity rule in Sec. 472(c), if LIFO is used on a taxpayer’s tax return, no other