Have you ever noticed that when someone says something good about a co-worker, it tends to end at that person.  BUT, if someone says something bad about a co-worker, it gets repeated, exaggerated – and can and often does destroy another person’s reputation. I’m aware of a case of a woman being accused of not […]

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that starting May 13th only individuals with tax identification numbers may request an Employer Identification Number, or EIN, as the “responsible party” on the application.  This change will prevent entities, such as employer, from using their own EINs to obtain additional EINs. The requirement will apply to both the paper Form […]

The cash disbursements cycle steps – approval, preparation, authorization – can leave your company vulnerable to fraud and theft if basic controls are not in place. Two of the most important controls are segregation of duties and check signing/EFT approval procedures.  Controls over these two steps in the cash disbursement cycle minimize the risk of […]

Fraud can be catastrophic for any size organization.  Often companies unknowingly allow fraudulent activities to happen because they have been complacent in their review of their current internal controls.  When a system is working it is easy to set aside evaluating it in favor of reviewing processes that are knowingly flawed.  The most cost-effective way […]

For decades Microsoft Excel followed a predictable pattern of a new update being released roughly every three years. Of course, Excel 2002 was an outlier, sandwiched in between Excel 2000 and Excel 2003. Then there was a four year wait for Excel 2007 while Microsoft worked to implement the new menu structure known as “the […]

The AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board (ASB) recently released an exposure draft of a Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS)  and a Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) that would align the AICPA definition of materiality with the definitions used by the United States judicial system, the PCAOB auditing standards, the FASB, and the U.S. Securities […]

Puzzled by a tricky question from a client?  Looking for hard-to-find information? Stumped by a request from a partner or referral source?   Don’t ask those closest to you – your peers, your partners, your buddies.   Instead reach out to dormant ties for help.   Why?  Professionals contacted people they hadn’t been in touch with for 3+ years.  […]

When I wrote my first book, Finance for Non-Financial Managers, it opened with then-current stories of CEOs whose companies had been caught gaming their financial reporting, while the CEOs claimed they didn’t know because they weren’t accountants, or some such excuse. I posited that CEOs could no longer afford to be non-financial, that they could […]

Regularly evaluating the conflicts of interest potentially affecting your company may not seem important to your business operations.  However, because employees, leaders and board members are constantly rotating through and making changes in their personal lives, it is key for a company to regularly review the conflicts of interest of individuals tied to the organization […]

Segregation of duties is the cornerstone of a company’s internal control structure.  Maintaining proper segregation of duties in core business process areas minimizes the opportunity for an employee to commit fraud against his or her employer.  Duty segregation protects both the employer and the employee. In any business accounting cycle (such as cash management, inventory, accounts receivable, […]