In a letter to the FASB and IASB, the AICPA’s Financial Reporting Executive Committee (FinREC) suggested that a dividing line be created between Type A and Type B leases that deviates from the rule the boards have proposed.  While FinREC supported the objectives calling for transparency and recognition on-balance sheet for all leases, it disagreed with the test for how leases would be classified.  For detai ...

In a brief but revealing article by the Wall Street Journal, auditors at the seven largest accounting firms in the U.S. were cited for deficiencies found in 37.5 percent of the audits inspected by regulators.  The vast majority of the deficiencies involved evaluation of the market prices companies supplied for complex assets.  Citations were also made for failure to test managers’ assertions about the metho ...

How would you value a three-year old video game company that only has two games on the market and just 130 employees?  Apparently, the answer is $3 billion.  How does a valuation come up with this kind of number and more importantly, can it even be accurate?  Check out this Forbes.com profile of the deal between Japanese internet giant, Softbank, mobile online gamer, Gungho and the hot property, Supercell. ...

According to the Wall Street Journal, now would be a good time to sell a business.  When examining the small-business-for-sale market, transactions are up significantly from this time last year.  In 2012, there were 1,189 small businesses sold between July and September, while 2013 has surpassed that total with 1,685.  The upswing in sales has been mostly in service companies, followed by retailers and rest ...

  In case you missed it, the Professional Standards and Guidance Committee (PSGC) of the Appraisal Institute (AI) submitted its official comments to the Appraisal Standards Board of The Appraisal Foundation regarding feedback to drafting changes to the 2016-2017 USPAP.  In its candid response, AI says USPAP has a “mixed record” when it comes to addressing appraiser behavior in a way that establishes pu ...

Because of increased IRS audit procedures, multi-national corporations face great risk when it comes to transfer pricing from both a compliance and tax planning perspective.  The familiar multi-nationals like Amazon or Microsoft have made headlines regarding transfer pricing disputes and adjustments that run into the billions.  In an excellent article by the Journal of Accountancy, small, closely-held compa ...

In its Washington Report and State News web section, the Appraisal Institute (AI) recently reported that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released an updated Standard Operating Procedure 50-10 5 F.  The update institutes guidelines for SBA lenders making use of SBA credit assistance.  The alteration affecting valuation involves business and intangible assets in circumstances where there is a cha ...

Just because a corporate stock price is on the rise, is that justification enough for the huge payouts executives receive?  While shareholder returns are usually the most prominent factor considered by corporations when determining executive pay, many elite business school educators and industry experts don’t think they should be.  They contend that executives regularly profit off short-term bullish markets ...

In an article titled, “PCC to Ask FASB to Endorse First Private Company GAAP Exceptions”, under the subhead, “Business combinations”, the Journal of Accountancy reveals that the Private Company Council (PCC) approved a proposal to FASB that would allow a private company to elect to amortize goodwill acquired in a business combination on a straight line basis over 10 years or less. The proposal is conditiona ...

The Tax Court recently denied an IRS motion for summary judgment in an estate and gift tax case where an elderly mother made gifts to her daughters, while requiring them to pay all tax liabilities due if she happened to die within three years of making the gifts.  In the calculation for gift tax purposes, the mother reduced the value of the gifts by the estimated tax liability.  This reduction was denied by ...

Recently, the FASB issued exposure drafts of Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) which propose reductions in the cost and complexity of accounting for intangible assets acquired by private companies, as well as subsequent testing for goodwill impairment.  The proposed changes in the drafts involve alterations to Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 85, Business Combinations, and Topic 350, Intanbig ...

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) reports that in less than five years, 75 percent of all CPAs will be at or very near retirement age. Naturally, there’s an undercurrent of panic in the profession. Small and midsize firm owners are reluctant to sell to large operations, not to mention the pain of watching what they’ve spent a lifetime to create simply disappear. There’s also the ...

In 2011, after a six-year pilot program, the IRS made the Compliance Assurance Process (CAP) a permanent fixture. The intention was to give large corporate taxpayers a pre-filing period where discrepancies or contentious issues could be ironed out to simplify examination after filing. The goal was to provide each side with more confidence in the contents at the time it was officially filed. The problem: CAP ...

Financially-sound companies can more easily obtain lines of credit at low interest rates, as well as more easily issue debt financing or issue bonds on better terms. Companies often take advantage of loopholes to present themselves as more profitable than they are. Most do it in a way that they’re not technically breaking the law, but ethics certainly come into question. When should you be concerned and whe ...

Things change because markets are not logical; markets are emotional. In an analysis featured on CNNMoney.com, Ben Horowitz lays out the specific challenges of raising capital and valuing startups in the current economic climate. In an eye-opening comparison, he looks at the price/earnings ratios (P/E) of all S&P 500 IT companies for the last 18 years. With this wide of a time span, one might expect som ...

In their recently released Beige Book, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System break down the economic performance of the nation within seven business sectors across 12 metropolitan economic districts.  Prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the findings are based on all data collected on or before August 26, 2013.  Business sectors covered include consumer spending & touris ...

In the first installment of a two-part series, the AICPA reviews the most important developments affecting estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax and trust income tax over the last 12 months.  In the period from June 2012 through May 2013, the analysis covers legislative developments, rulings, pending cases, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 and inflation adjustments for 2013.  The s ...

  According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, “research and development” (R&D) are now considered a fixed investment. The report, released last month, contains GDP figures categorizing R&D with this distinction. R&D now joins software in a new category labeled “intellectual property products”. While some see the change as only affecting a small number of economists, others see the move as b ...

Valuing Nokia Siemens Networks Nokia Corporation is bound to look very different after Microsoft buys its devices division. When the initial purchase was announced, most in the industry were shocked. The bigger question is: How much will the remaining parts of the company be worth once the deal is done, and how should they be valued? Analysts from JP Morgan Cazenove provide a very interesting breakdown in a ...

As corporations and their CFOs prepare to launch their 2014 budgets, Michael R. Press of M. R. Press Consulting, writing for CFO.com, points out ideal opportunities to maximize ROI through tax incentives at the state and local levels.  In a tightly-detailed, three step approach, Press explains that with the right goal criteria, corporations can recoup virtually all of the initial investment capital related ...