December 2012 - Journal of Accountancy

When Rick Snyder saw the cover of the first comprehensive annual financial report for Michigan produced on his watch as the state’s governor, he smiled and reacted with feigned horror. “So what am I?” he asked State Budget Director John Nixon. “Chicken feed?” The report mentioned Nixon’s CPA credential, but

Accounting firms aren’t all the way back to where they were before the Great Recession, but they are making progress. That’s one of the many findings of note in the 2012 National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) survey, sponsored by the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section in association with

Rarely has there been such a major difference between the laws in effect in one year and the next. The maximum income tax rates next year could be as high as 43.4% on ordinary income (44.6% if the potential impact of reinstated limitations on itemized deductions is taken into account)

Trying to uncover evidence of fraud in a data set of millions of records is somewhat akin to searching for a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, the successful employment of data analysis techniques can clear away most of the “hay” and leave the fraud examiner or auditor with a much

Historically, many organizations have conducted goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment testing by collaborating with valuation professionals and other advisers to measure fair value of their reporting units and indefinite-lived intangible assets. With recent changes to impairment testing and, specifically, the introduction of optional qualitative assessments to potentially avoid the

The global financial crisis transformed corporate priorities, pushing financial risk management high up the list—a shift that has elevated the profile and broadened the role of the executive who is often responsible for managing that risk: the corporate treasurer. Treasurers have become more involved in big-picture strategy, working closely with

The recent efforts by the accounting profession to improve private company financial reporting revealed a clear and strong demand by small and medium-size entities, the CPAs who serve them, and those who use their financial statements for a more robust and reliable financial reporting framework when GAAP is not required.