Attestation Update – A&A for CPAs. – Page 70 – Technical stuff for CPAs providing attestation services.

Be creative inside the box

Blogger ejwcpa at NFP Audit and Accounting challenges us accountants to help our organizations, clients, and staff in the field by being creative and developing helpful ideas while working inside the box. The post is be creative.

It’s not so tough to get wildly creative if there are no boundaries.

It’s much harder when there are federal tax laws, state tax laws, local zoning issues, unending streams of employment laws, accounting rules, reporting requirements, internal control issues, sales tax, regulators from dozens upon dozens of agencies watching us, and privacy rules that create steel-reinforced concrete walls to the box we work in.

Check out this comment:

…

Be creative *inside* the boxRead More »

Be creative *inside* the box Read More »

Two new financial reporting frameworks. FAF makes a decision on private company accounting rules. AICPA starts work on new accounting rules for private companies.

Leave a Comment / Accounting / Jim Ulvog

FAF has approved a new organization that will determine what rules in GAAP don’t need to be applied to private companies.

The lead paragraph from Accounting Today:

The Financial Accounting Foundation’s board of trustees has voted to establish a new Private Company Council that will determine whether exceptions or modifications to U.S. GAAP for privately held companies are necessary.

…

Two new financial reporting frameworks. FAF makes a decision on private company accounting rules. AICPA starts work on new accounting rules for private companies.Read More »

Two new financial reporting frameworks. FAF makes a decision on private company accounting rules. AICPA starts work on new accounting rules for private companies. Read More »

Summary of changes from the clarified SASs

Tweets I wish I’d sent from the 2012 Chick-FIl-A LeaderCast

Journey through a peer review – initial scheduling form approved

2 Comments / Peer Review / Jim Ulvog

Part 2 of my journey through the peer review process.

Today I received a note that I forgot to answer one question on the Peer Review Scheduling Form. Oops.

Answered it and returned the form. Same day I received a letter that my initial form had been accepted. A copy of the 4 pages needed to get a reviewer approved were attached to the letter. These are the last pages in the Scheduling Form, so you will already know what they look like.

…

Journey through a peer review – initial scheduling form approvedRead More »

Journey through a peer review – initial scheduling form approved Read More »

Nothing like recovering from a computer failure to show how much change is going on

2 Comments / Pondering / Jim Ulvog

(cross-posted from my other blog, Outrun Change.)

One of the main computers I use in my business failed Sunday night. For various reasons, I’ve held off on making several major upgrades, like jumping to Windows 7 and Office 2010.

So I shopped for new computer, have it in place, and as of yesterday have almost all the software running. Still have a couple of things to bring online, but they can wait for the moment.

Making the jump to a host of new technology tools all at once highlights the volume of change surrounding us.

…

Nothing like recovering from a computer failure to show how much change is going onRead More »

Nothing like recovering from a computer failure to show how much change is going on Read More »

Dump the timesheets? Not so fast.

Leave a Comment / Audits, Pondering / Jim Ulvog

There is a movement afoot in the CPA world to get rid of timesheets. A major part of the concept is to move away from billing by the hour and move toward “value billing.”

Instead of charging based on how many hours you spend, bill the client for what your services are worth or what you can negotiate in a lump sum.

In my tiny part of the accounting world, I’ve been billing on a fixed price basis for the vast majority of work for around 20 years or more. (So does that mean I was a value-biller before value-biller was cool?)

Getting rid of the timesheets entirely is an idea I have been highly uncomfortable with, but hadn’t thought through why.

Until now.

Ed Mendlowitz, CPA, has a great article at CPATrendlines explaining the reasons I’m uneasy. He explains 13 Reasons Timesheet Will Never Die.

In one sentence, look at the opposite side of the income statement – timesheets are a cost control.

…

Dump the timesheets? Not so fast.Read More »

Dump the timesheets? Not so fast. Read More »

Roadmap to implementing the clarified audit standards and tools to read the map

Evaluating a used car as an illustration of the differences between compilation, review, and audit

Leave a Comment / Audits, Compilations & reviews / Jim Ulvog

I have a post at my other blog, Nonprofit Update which provides an analogy to illustrate the differences between the levels of attestation services provided by CPAs:

Evaluating a used car as an illustration of the differences between compilation, review, and audit

The analogy compares three different ways to figure out the quality of a car. I suggest each of those ways is similar to a level of service. Here’s the conclusion:

Look at the car from across the street – very low cost for low quality information – compilation
Look around inside in the car and drive it around the block – moderate cost for better information – review
Have a mechanic work it over – highest cost in terms of time and money but the best information on the quality of the car – audit

Check out the full post for more details on the analogy.

Evaluating a used car as an illustration of the differences between compilation, review, and audit Read More »

Journey through a peer review – initial notification

Leave a Comment / Peer Review / Jim Ulvog

Since my last peer review in 2009, I started blogging and started performing peer reviews. I’ve also been blogging about peer reviews.

So when I received notification yesterday, May 7, that it is time to start the paperwork for my current peer review, I thought it might be helpful to share my experiences with this journey through the peer review process.

Why? Haven’t all firms gone through the peer review process before?

Actually no. In California there are a number of firms who still have to go through their first mandatory peer review since 2012 is the third year of the phase in of that requirement. Other firms will perform their first attestation work and have to step into the peer review process. New firms are still forming. In larger firms, partners who have not been involved in the peer review process can get that responsibility assigned to them.

So, there are a lot of CPAs who could be helped by reading about this journey.

Yesterday I received a letter from the CalCPA Peer Review Program telling me it’s time to get started.

…

Journey through a peer review – initial notificationRead More »

Journey through a peer review – initial notification Read More »

Big firms rebranding multiple names down to one

2 Comments / Audits / Jim Ulvog

David Albrecht has background on the trend of the big firms reducing the number of names in the firm name down to one or a series of letters. Also gives some reasons why.

CPA Firm Branding and McGladrey LLP

Several reasons: appearance, ease of brand management, looks more ‘corporate’.

Good overview for those of us who don’t worry about the image of a zillion dollar firm.

Big firms rebranding multiple names down to one Read More »

Q: Why are corruption and bribery frauds so difficult to discover?

Leave a Comment / Audits, Fraud / Jim Ulvog

A: Because all the documents are outside the organization being defrauded.

When it comes to corruption and bribery, it only takes a little planning for a fraudster to keep all the papers that contain any trace of a fraud outside the organization. A minimal amount of planning will mean there is no paper inside an organization that contains a hint of a problem.

I’ve discussed this issue using the example of an alleged fraud in the city next to where I live. The alleged part of the story is slowly turning to fact with one participant, the mayor, entering a plea agreement.

Now think about auditing the city. All the pieces of paper that show any hint of the fraud are outside the city hall. How would the city’s auditor find that?

…

Q: Why are corruption and bribery frauds so difficult to discover?Read More »

Q: Why are corruption and bribery frauds so difficult to discover? Read More »

Guilty plea in corruption trial mentioned a year ago

Leave a Comment / Audits, Fraud / Jim Ulvog

In March 2011 I discussed a corruption case in the city next door to where I live.

The local newspaper reports that the mayor has pled guilty to accepting a $5,000 bribe from a local business. From the Daily Bulletin: Ex-Upland mayor pleads guilty, the very short version of the story:

{The mayor} was accused of conspiracy, extortion and bribery offenses that led the business owners to pay $45,000 in bribes.

…

Guilty plea in corruption trial mentioned a year agoRead More »

Guilty plea in corruption trial mentioned a year ago Read More »

e-fax – Electronic facsimile services are really inexpensive

Leave a Comment / Other stuff / Jim Ulvog

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

I changed my e-fax provider today.

If you hadn’t thought about it before, or were unaware, you can buy an electronic fax service that puts faxes into your inbox via email. You can dump your fax machine.

Each time I change providers, I find out that the services have gone up and the cost has gone down.

This time around I learned it is a common feature to be able to send a fax from your email software. Just enter the recipient’s fax number plus an extension as if it were an email address, add attachments, and hit send. Your fax is on its way. Cool. Oh, toll-free numbers are now available for no extra charge.

Price?

…

e-fax – Electronic facsimile services are really inexpensiveRead More »

e-fax – Electronic facsimile services are really inexpensive Read More »