PICPA Boards and Blogs

By Donna M. Massanova, CPA The Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB’s) Staff Position (FSP) AAGINV-1 and SOP 94-4-1, which is effective for periods ending after Dec. 15, 2006, significantly changed the reporting of certain guaranteed investment contracts in the financial statements of defined contribution pension and health and welfare ...

By Jay J. Jacobs, CPA A long-awaited overhaul of accounting for business combinations and consolidations was recently completed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). FASB issued a revised FAS 141, Business Combinations (FAS 141R) and the new FAS 160, Noncontrolling Interests in Consolidated Financial Statements, which is an ...

By Maria F. Boodoo, CPA When something in a company is amiss financially, CPAs may be part of the team responsible for tracking down the problem. If an illegal act or wrongdoing within a company is suspected, an internal investigation is usually the first step so management can get an idea of what they are dealing with. Whether you are a CPA on ...

By Mitchell K. McKenney, CPA AICPA’s accounting and review services committee issued several statements and interpretations in the second half of 2007 that revised professional standards for review and compilation engagements. In large part, the motivation was to further separate review and compilation standards (SSARS) from auditing standards ...

By Robert L. Brown, CPA In their role as independent auditors, many CPAs work with the audit committees of commercial entities. When it comes to working with the audit committees of nonprofit entities, many of the practices and principles applicable to for-profits also apply, but certain areas require special attention. If you are called upon to ...

By Vijay R. Chemuturi, CPA Statement of Auditing Standards No. 99 (SAS 99), Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, requires auditors to consider fraud risk factors at various stages of an audit of financial statements. It also requires the auditor to assess such identified risks and respond to them by performing procedures that ...

By Paul E. Zikmund, CFE, CFD, and Marge O'Reilly-Allen, CPA, PhD Recent professional guidance, such as SAS 99, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Auditing Standard 2, has brought more attention to the auditor’s responsibility to uncover the warning signs of fraud, but ...