May 2008 - Journal of Accountancy

As the credit markets froze and stocks gyrated, investors and pundits naturally looked for someone, or some thing , to blame. Fair value accounting quickly emerged as an oft-cited problem. But is fair value really a cause of the crisis, or is it just a scapegoat? And might it have

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Securitizations in the mortgage industry are collateralized with home or commercial mortgage loans and are packaged into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that are sold to institutional investors seeking to realize higher returns on investment-grade debt instruments compared with other securities of similar credit quality. Mortgage banks generate revenue through

More and more, global companies are discovering that year-end adjustments to intercompany transfer pricing can improve the accuracy of their transfer pricing tax reporting and, potentially, help prevent overpaying taxes by millions of dollars. However, increasing scrutiny by tax authorities in the United States and other key countries makes it

In April 2007, the IRS issued final regulations under section 409A pertaining to nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans. The regulations represent a culmination of efforts to bring uniformity to a field that Congress perceived was too prone to abuse of income timing, especially by executives and other highly compensated individuals.

When Steve Preston stepped into the role of SBA administrator in July 2006, he left a seemingly comfortable career in the private sector, most recently with the ServiceMaster Company, for a less certain future in the public arena. Charged with the task of overhauling the SBA’s Disaster Assistance Program in

  In 2009, FASB’s Accounting Standards Codification will affect the day-to-day work of nearly every CPA who practices, teaches or researches accounting in accordance with U.S. GAAP. By July 2009, FASB is expected to make the codification the single source of authoritative GAAP, overriding all existing literature. In other words, the

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Standard setting organizations in more than 100 countries have adopted the International Federation of Accountants’ (IFAC) Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, while others are in the process of converging with the code. The code applies to professionals in public practice, business, academia and government. The IFAC code’s