Accounting

Helpful comments from 2017 CalCPA Not-for-profit conference, part 1

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Here are a few of the comments from the May 24, 2017 Not-for-profit conference presented by California Society of CPAs that I thought would be of interest to others in the nonprofit community. Since all comments are the opinion of the speaker, neither their name nor organization will be mentioned. The ideas mentioned can stand or fall on their own.

This is the first of two posts. The next discussion will address changes in financial statement presentation outlined in ASU 2016-14. In this post: tax, revenue recognition, and single audit.

(Cross-posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

Tax update:

  • It might just be possible that filing a form 1023 or 1023-EZ is so easy that people can get exempt status for an organization without knowing the requirements to properly operate a charity and maintain exempt status. In examinations to follow-up on exempt status, the IRS is finding a lot of charities are out of compliance.
  • One of several focuses of the IRS is filing of FBARs, those forms used to report overseas bank accounts. One ripple effect of chasing money laundering is the impact on charities who have overseas accounts. Even though there is minimal risk of those accounts being used for tax evasion the FBAR filing requirement still apply. As a reminder, the deadline for filing FBARs is now April 15 with a six-month extension available.

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Not-for-profit risk alert for 2017 is available

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Cover of 2017 risk alert from the AICPA, used under fair use since I’m urging you to buy their product.

The 2017 risk alert for non-profits is available from the AICPA.

Highlighted updates this year include:

  • AUS 2016-14 – New financial statement presentation
  • ASU 2016-02 – Leases
  • SAS 132 – Going concern

If you don’t feel overwhelmed, you haven’t been paying close enough attention to recent pronouncements. If so, the risk alert will help you catch up.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, the risk alert is a great first step towards to getting comfortable.

IFRS adoption is not quite as widespread as you think

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A presenter at the CalCPA’s Accounting and Auditing Conference on April 25, 2017 said IFRS has been adopted by over 120 countries, essentially every country on the planet with the holdout exceptions of:

  • U.S.
  • China
  • Japan
  • India

The inference is the overwhelming majority of the stocks in the world are reported on a consistent basis.

The US is the main stubborn hold out. He suggests China is holding back to see what the US does. Ripple effect is that if the US continues to hold out, China will too. If we adopt, China will too.

There is still the uncomfortable reality that each country chooses which aspects of IFRS to adopt or reject.

Apart from that precisely-consistent-across-the-planet idea, the comment that only a few countries have not adopted and eeeeevryone else is doing it makes it sound like most stocks are reported on IFRS.

I checked.

That isn’t the case.

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Like a persistent vampire in a horribly bad horror movie, IFRS just won’t stay dead in the U.S.

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Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

I thought IFRS in the US was dead. In case you didn’t know, I have a fairly strong opinion on the issue.

A presenter at the CalCPA’s Accounting and Auditing Conference on April 25, 2017 had the following comment on IFRS at the end of the presentation:

Death, taxes, cockroaches, and IFRS aren’t going away.

My immediate thought:

Unfortunately, that now seems to be true.

IFRS is baaaack

He perceives the pendulum of discussion on IFRS is swinging back to the topic being on the table.

His comments consistently contained the inference that IFRS is one body of knowledge, consistent in its application in every country across the planet that has adopted the rules.

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Staying ahead of change in the CPA profession

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We need to be ready for what’s around the curve. We will be there really soon whether we want to or not. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

In the short-term, looks like a shortage is emerging for experience accountants. In the longer term, the massive change surrounding us means we need to keep learning and adapting.

As CPAs, we need to keep learning new skills and focus on things computers can’t do.

 

1/30/17 – Bill Sheridan at Business Learning Institute of MACPA – Want to beat the machines? Learn to do what they can’t do – Here is a way to think about automation that you might be able to wrap your brain around – How will you adapt then 30% of the work you do is automated, done faster, quicker, cheaper, and more accurately than you can do? Not 99% of what you do, not 10%, but 30%?

I can’t get my arms around audit or tax or consulting completely going away. I just can’t picture that. However, I can imagine 30% or 40% of my work as an auditor becoming completely automated. Actually, I sort of like that idea.

Computers don’t do well at applying professional judgment, courage, empathy, flexibility, and reacting to body language.

Point of article is learn to do those things better.

1/31/17 – Bill Sheridan at Business Learning Institute of MACPA – Change is a choice. So are relevance … and your future – Each of us has a choice. We can keep doing what we are doing. Or we can decide to change and grow and learn new things.

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Updates for CPAs: going concern and location of debt issue costs

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Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub before they merged into Adobe Stock.
Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub before they merged into Adobe Stock.

The accelerating pace of change doesn’t slow down merely because I have multiple audits in progress plus more that just started. Here are a few articles to help keep all of us up to date on two newly effective standards:

Going concern

For a long time the professional requirements for addressing going concern issues have been located in the audit literature. Yeah, the accounting requirement was in the audit standards.  There has been an effort for several years to this guidance out of the SASs and into GAAP. Two articles show the substantial progress:

11/8/16 – Charles Hall at CPA-Scribo – It’s Time to Apply FASB’s New Going Concern Standard –  ASU 2014-15 creates a requirement in GAAP for management to assess whether there are conditions or events which raise substantial doubt about ability to continue as going concern.

This is effective for financial statements ending on or after December 15, 2016. Translation: 12/31/16 financial statements. That would be the ones you’re auditing or reviewing or compiling at the moment.

If you haven’t tuned into this new requirement, check out Mr. Hall’s article before you download the ASU for study. Hint: the new requirements on management will seem remarkably familiar.

In case you hadn’t thought about it, having a GAAP-based going concern requirement placed on management means that there is now a specific need to address going concern in a review or comp.

2/22/17 – Accounting Today – AICPA changes going concern audit standard – Now that the going concern requirements are in GAAP, the ASB has modified the rules in the audit literature.

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Fun reading for accountants

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Manual accounting records. Anyone miss those? Didn't think sol. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Manual accounting records. Anyone miss those? Didn’t think so. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

A few fun reads for accountants:

  • Why no Hollywood movie will ever show a profit.
  • Adrienne Gonzalez is back at Going Concern, talking about the idea of TBTF Big 4 firms possibly, maybe, becoming SIFI (not likely to ever happen, but a fun read anyway).
  • Talent shortage appearing in the CPA world.
  • Research from Management of an Accounting Practice now available.

9/14/11 (yes, 2011) – The Atlantic – How Hollywood Accounting Can Make a $450 Million Movie “Unprofitable” – If you have never taken a look at the astoundingly creative accounting in Hollywood, this article will give you a superb introduction.

Several years ago I took a fraud education CPE course in which the instructor went on a tangent to explain why no Hollywood movie has ever made a profit and none of them ever will.

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A few highlights from 2017 Audit Risk Alert

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Image is from AICPA. Used under Fair Use since, after all, I am promoting three of their products.
Image is from AICPA. Used under Fair Use since, after all, I am promoting their product.

The AICPA’s annual audit risk alert had been out a little while. There is a lot of good stuff covered that all auditors really ought to check out. I heartily recommend reading the annual update before you get very far into your 12/31 audits.  The document is Audit Risk Alert General Accounting and Auditing Developments—2016/17.

I will mention just a few highlights.

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2017 Risk Alerts available

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Image is from AICPA. Used under Fair Use since, after all, I am promoting three of their products.
Image of Audit Risk Alert is from AICPA. Used under Fair Use since, after all, I am promoting three of their products.

The 2017 audit season is about to begin. Planning is well underway for all those 12/31 clients.

To help you get ready, the annual updates to AICPA risk alerts are available. Consider:

I read the risk alerts every year. They are great for reminding me of what I already knew and even better for pointing out what tidbits I had missed.

You might want to check them out in the lull before the rush of field work hits.

What to do about the new overtime rules since they are on hold?

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Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

The new overtime rules were set to go into effect tomorrow, December 1. The rules are on hold as a result of an injunction issued by a federal judge. What should charities do about changes that have been implemented, or announced, or on the drawing board?

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

Two articles have some suggestions:

11/29 – Baltimore Business Journal – Plenty of questions still surround blocked overtime pay law – It is very uncertain how the new overtime rules will be handled. Article cites the CEO of an outsourcing and payroll company. His advice is stay tuned to developments. The rules could be implemented, overturned, or modified.

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Overtime rules on hold after federal judge issues nationwide injunction

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Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

places a hold on the new rules regarding

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

 

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

A federal judge in Texas issued an injunction putting on hold the new Department of Labor rule increasing the threshold for paying overtime. The judge concluded there was a reasonable likelihood (I don’t quite appreciate the technical description so will use casual wording) that the lawsuit by 21 states and a lot of businesses would succeed. He also concluded the rule could cause irreparable financial harm. Thus, he issued the injunction, which applies nationwide.

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More background on revision to nonprofit reporting

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Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

The new rules revising not-for-profit financial reporting are a significant change although they are not as dramatic as what we saw a long time ago with SFAS #116 and #117.

ASU 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-four-Profit Entities, was issued August 18, 2016. You can find the document here.

I will write a series of articles going into detail on the new rules. In the meantime, here are a few more articles providing background.

(This article is cross-posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

8/18 – AICPA – FASB’s standard Aims to Improve Not-for-Profit Financial Reporting – good overview of most changes

8/18 – Journal of Accountancy – FASB modifies not-for-profit accounting rules – High level overview. Article also provides some background on the process. Revision of GAAP to require operating measures is still under consideration but will be part of the next phase.

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“Compilation of Pro Forma Financial Information”

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Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

SSARS #22 addresses Compilation of Pro Forma Financial Information. This document rolls SSARS #14 into the clarified format. This is the last section of the old SSARS to be rewritten as a clarified document.

You can find the document here.

It will be effective for compilations of pro forma info dated on or after May 1, 2017.

Charles Hall has a superb recap of the document at his blog, CPA-Scribo:  Are You Up to Speed on the New Pro Forma Information Standards?  If you want to get up to speed really fast, check out his article.

Yet another banking fiasco – Opening two million fake accounts to meet sales targets

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Wells Fargo Concord stagecoach. April 2012 photo by James Ulvog.
Wells Fargo Concord stagecoach. Notice the only suspension for running over rough roads is those leather straps under the passenger compartment. Those didn’t smooth out the rocks and bumps very much. April 2012 photo by James Ulvog.

Deep sigh. Another banking fiasco hit the papers yesterday. The Wall Street Journal reported Wells Fargo to Pay $185 Million Fine Over Account Openings.

The bank will pay a mere $185M to settle claims brought by OCC, CFPB (Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, the new creation of the Dodd-Frank legislation), and LA city attorney.

This scheme involved customer-facing employees opening fake bank accounts in the name of existing customers without the customer’s permission. Another variation is opening a fake account in the name of a nonexistent customer. Article says sometimes money would be transferred from a customer’s account into the new, fake account with occasional NSF fees because there wasn’t enough money in the legitimate account to cover legitimate checks.

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Good reads for accountants: Twelve minute CPE courses. Big data AI taking over audit work?

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Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

In the near term, your CPE options will include twelve-minute courses.

In the long-term, ponder how much of your audit work could be replaced by artificial intelligence. I can grasp the idea of automating a large portion of detail testing. I can’t see the possibility of replacing the entire audit function. Stretch your brain with two articles from Jim Peterson.

8/11 – Journal of Accountancy – CPE standards update accommodates new forms of learning – It will be a while before you see this in a CPE class, but the AICPA and NASBA changed the CPE rules to allow for nano-learning and blended learning.

Nano-learning is a short course, say 12 minutes that will allow CPE credit in 0.2 hour increments. Picture a 24 or 36 minute course on how to conduct an inventory observation. Or a 12 minute class on how to prepare the planning materiality worksheet.

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