Proper preparation for your year-end 401(K) audit can lead to a much smoother and effective audit experience for both your company and your auditor. A constant line of communication leading into the audit will allow both parties to be as efficient as possible, especially when it comes to performing fieldwork. In addition to what your …
Dishonest employees can see an opportunity to steal from the company through expense reimbursements. If you don’t have a strong travel and expenses policy that is routinely monitored and enforced, you open yourself up for the risk of expense reimbursement fraud. Some common examples of fraud schemes that impact everyday companies are: Double billing: seeking …
Some businesses avoid running special promotions and discounts with the view that this will tarnish their brand or reduce the value of the product or service they have worked hard at creating. However, some businesses find that offering special promotions and discounts through a deal website, such as Groupon, are an effective method for advertising …
With its first Accounting Standards Update of 2017 (ASU 2017-01), the FASB revised the definition of a business under U.S. GAAP. This update was issued to provide more clarity to entities in determining whether transactions should be classified as an acquisition (or disposal) of assets or businesses. Stakeholders had communicated to the FASB that the …
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently released Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-18 regarding specific guidance on the presentation and classification of restricted cash in the statement of cash flows. The ASU notes the following items: The statement of cash flows is required to explain the change during the period in the total of cash, …
There are times companies may have to make a decision of whether they should purchase software from an outside party or develop software internally to meet their operational needs. If companies choose internally developed software, they should at least be aware of the accounting implications because, when you develop the software internally, some of these …
Is it that time again for the suits to show up at your front office asking for a conference room for two weeks and the lion’s share of your time to conduct your annual audit, while you’ve already spent hours compiling documents for their infamous “PBC List?” Well as one of those pesky auditors, I’m …
Former Major League All-Star Bobby Bonilla made headlines on July 1st, 2011, when he showed up on the New York Mets payroll. Most would expect a 48 year old former major leaguer to be on the payroll in the position of a coach or mentor, but Bobby Bonilla was just beginning to receive money that …
The financial close process is used to prepare the financial data of a company for financial statement presentation. The process centers on finalizing account balances in order to display financial data in the proper accounting period. It can be a complex process and usually involves many different employees, systems and processes within a company. There …
On August 26, 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230). The new guidance is intended to reduce diversity in practice in how certain cash inflows and cash outflows are presented in the statement of cash flows. This update provides guidance on the following eight topics: Debt prepayment or …