January 2012

10 year anniversary of Ulvog CPA

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On January 28, 2002 I hung out my shingle as a one-person CPA firm.  Ten years ago!

That was an exciting and thrilling step for me.  I’ve never had as much fun in my professional life as I have in the last decade.

My hope is that I’ve helped many organizations in the religious non-profit community improve their accounting and accountability.

I’m looking forward to many more years serving the non-profit community.  Looking forward to serving the CPA community as well.  Also looking forward to having even more fun – the next decade will be better than the last!

10 year anniversary of Ulvog CPA Read More »

Why my interest in the Bakken oil field is increasing

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(Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update)

For quite a while now I’ve been fascinated by the rapid increase in oil production in the Bakken field in North Dakota. 

Have had a lot of posts on my blog Outrun Change.  Under 1% unemployment in one county. Production graphs that are going vertical.  More oil produced in ND than California. That kind of stuff.

This month my interest level took off like those oil production charts.

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Why my interest in the Bakken oil field is increasingRead More »

Why my interest in the Bakken oil field is increasing Read More »

Benefit Corporations – new form of incorporating that allows goals other than profits to be priority

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(cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

The Wall Street Journal discusses ‘benefit corporations’ in their article, With New Law, Profits Take a Back Seat.

This is a traditional for-profit corporation modified to so the entity can have social or environment issues as a priority.  Profit or the interest of stockholders can take a back seat to those self-defined issues.

Why take the benefit corporation approach?

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Benefit Corporations – new form of incorporating that allows goals other than profits to be priorityRead More »

Benefit Corporations – new form of incorporating that allows goals other than profits to be priority Read More »

Investigators for Olympus aren’t pointing fingers at KPMG and E&Y

Leave a Comment / Audits, Fraud /

An investigative panel set up by Olympus released a report saying the external auditors couldn’t have found the fraud. 

The panel also blamed five internal auditors for helping with the cover up.  Olympus has sued the five.

An Internet search today indicates there are 270 articles discussing this. Here are a few you can browse:

One panel of investigators appointed by Olympus pointed fingers at the external auditors. I discussed this report in my guest post at re: The Auditors.

In contrast, this new panel isn’t pointing fingers at the external auditors.  They are blaming the internal auditors for the costs incurred to investigate the cover up.

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Investigators for Olympus aren’t pointing fingers at KPMG and E&YRead More »

Investigators for Olympus aren’t pointing fingers at KPMG and E&Y Read More »

Addition to your client continuance checklist – use ideas from seven habits of spectacularly unsuccessful executives

Leave a Comment / Audits, Compilations & reviews /

Here’s an idea for something to add to your client continuance checklist.

Boil down the major points of The seven habits of spectacularly unsuccessful executives, by Sidney Finkelstein, which he wrote in 2004.  Turn his analysis into a list of major warning signs that suggest you don’t want to keep working with a client.

I’ve just started reading the full article.  Here is a summary, provided by David Albrecht, in his post, Arrogance and Social Media. …

Addition to your client continuance checklist – use ideas from seven habits of spectacularly unsuccessful executivesRead More »

Addition to your client continuance checklist – use ideas from seven habits of spectacularly unsuccessful executives Read More »

Our responsibility as CPAs is to our clients, the shareholders

2 Comments / Audits, Compilations & reviews, Pondering /

Francine McKenna reposts one of her favorite discussions on the responsibility of CPAs: – Madoff, MLK, Buddha And Elusive Nature of Self-Interest

The core question is where do we place our ultimate focus and loyalty?

Management who hired us?  The CFO who could get us fired?  The board of directors? Senior partners of our firm?

No, no, no, and no.

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Our responsibility as CPAs is to our clients, the shareholdersRead More »

Our responsibility as CPAs is to our clients, the shareholders Read More »

Olympus sues current board members and current president

1 Comment / Accounting, Fraud /

Yesterday I mentioned that Olympus was going after its former chairman and two others.

Today we found out who was sued.

A WSJ report indicates Olympus has sued 19 executives, including the current president and four current directors who are also senior executives over the fiasco of hiding a $1.7M loss. 

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Olympus sues current board members and current presidentRead More »

Olympus sues current board members and current president Read More »

Survey of major accounting issues on the horizon

Leave a Comment / Accounting /

Prof. William F. O’Brien, CPA, has a great survey of the major accounting issues in our future and some suggestions on how to absorb the change that is on the way.  His article, Surf’s Up! Wave of Financial Reporting is Coming, is in the January/February edition of California CPA magazine.

Major issues he describes are:

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Survey of major accounting issues on the horizonRead More »

Survey of major accounting issues on the horizon Read More »

Olympus update – lawsuit against former chairman & former CEO gives up trying to get his job back

1 Comment / Accounting, Fraud /

Olympus has sued its former chairman and two other individuals. According to the Wall Street Journal article, Olympus Sues Former Chairman (all articles behind a pay wall), when the company made announcement, they didn’t give details of the suit or even say exactly how people are being sued.

Most interesting tidbit in the article is the lawsuit was based upon an independent report from three lawyers regarding the role of the board in the scandal. That report will be released on January 10, according to the article.

Hint that there’s major, useful news on the horizon:

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Olympus update – lawsuit against former chairman & former CEO gives up trying to get his job backRead More »

Olympus update – lawsuit against former chairman & former CEO gives up trying to get his job back Read More »

Before you wish for the feds to take over public accounting…

Leave a Comment / Audits /

Sometimes I see suggestions that the solution to the issues in our current model of CPAs auditing their clients is to have the government take over the auditing role.

Before you start wishing for that too hard, let me mention just three things I’ve noticed of late: …

Before you wish for the feds to take over public accounting…Read More »

Before you wish for the feds to take over public accounting… Read More »

Reporting restatements to the California Board of Accountancy

Leave a Comment / Audits, Compilations & reviews /

If you report on financial statements with a restatement of prior year numbers, you may have to notify the CBA.

The board has a very brief summary of the three circumstances when you have to notify them in the current issue of their newsletter, Update.  You can see the short article on page 10 of this issue.

Here is my really fast summary –

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Reporting restatements to the California Board of AccountancyRead More »

Reporting restatements to the California Board of Accountancy Read More »

If your mandatory peer review reporting is due July 2012, its time to get started

Leave a Comment / Peer Review /

Mandatory peer review in California is being phased in over three years.  Current issue of the California Board of Accounancy’s newsletter, Update, has a superb brief article on page 8.

Here is a great one sentence summary:

In July 2011, licensees with license numbers ending in 34 through 66 were notified that they are required to submit a Peer Review Reporting Form to the CBA by July 1, 2012.

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If your mandatory peer review reporting is due July 2012, its time to get startedRead More »

If your mandatory peer review reporting is due July 2012, its time to get started Read More »