July 2012 - Journal of Accountancy

You have prepared a presentation using 12 months of sales data for your client, Dynamo Co. After everyone is gathered, the client’s CEO says she has more recent sales figures available and asks whether they can be included in the chart while eliminating some of the old data. How do

You could hardly go to a Washington hearing related to an accounting or auditing issue this spring without someone singing the praises of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). At a House subcommittee meeting on accounting and auditing oversight, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., said SOX has

The compliance revolution after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was accomplished in large part with the help of the internal control framework of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). COSO’s framework became part of a worldwide movement to enhance periodic accounting and

The recent recession left no age group untouched, but baby boomers were hit especially hard. High unemployment and an uncertain stock market have caused older Americans to realize that their retirement funds might not support their desired lifestyle. Many seniors are facing foreclosure, while others are unable to meet their

Many CPAs are involved in representing estates of decedents who died in 2011 and 2012. In dealing with such estates, it is important to focus on the new Code provisions allowing portability of the decedent’s unused lifetime gift and estate exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. A failure to do

Editor’s note: This article is part of a series that samples accounting research and distills key findings for busy practitioners and preparers. The summaries explain the implications of a wide range of research and give CPAs an opportunity to apply results to their day-to-day activities. Readers interested in more detail

More organizations are voicing a commitment to ethical performance, but their proclamations do not appear to be matched by action—a disconnect that is emerging as financial professionals are facing more pressure to act unethically. That ethical divide was among the key findings of Managing Responsible Business: A Global Survey on