The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued three new opinion letters that address compliance issues related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). As a reminder to my readers, an opinion letter is an official, written opinion by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) on how a particular law applies in specific circumstances […]
The Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) newest lease accounting standard, Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 842, is facing implementation delays and challenges due to the COVID-19 crisis. Implementation Date: FASB recently issued a Financial Standards Update that deferred the implementation of ASC 842 for private companies and private not-for-profit companies that have not yet applied the […]
For many companies there is a strong chance that one of the effects of the COVID-19 virus will be considering it as a triggering event requiring the performance of goodwill impairment testing. The current guidance for goodwill is found in Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 350, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other. Management is required […]
Preparing taxes and performing audits are the most popular types of services offered by a CPA firm. However, CPA firms actually provide a myriad of services, one of which is the agreed-upon procedure engagement. What is an agreed-upon procedure engagement? An agreed-upon procedure (AUP) engagement is an engagement in which a CPA is to independently […]
Many people do not realize that Certified Public Accountants provide the service of auditing the financial statements of employee benefit plans. Before digging into this niche audit area, it is imperative to understand the governing law that establishes the need for the audit. Which employee benefit plans have to be audited? First, an employee benefit […]
As we head towards the end of 2020, it is expected that most auditors will have to deal with auditing the books of companies greatly impacted by COVID-19. Many of the situations will be new and unique to audit teams, although they are likely to see them often in the next couple of years. This […]
Since so many people are still working from home, they don’t have the physical casual contact with each other that they used to have. Familiarity with others is one of the ways trust is developed. We know people – we like them – we have learned something personal about them during lunch or coffee. Now […]
To define its financial stature, every company has to perform some accounting tasks including collection, analysis, classification, verification, interpretation, and presentation of financial information. Among various types of bookkeeping, one is called corporate accounting. Corporate accounting deals with the preparation of cash flow statements, financial records, balance sheets and creation of consolidated documents, etc. Corporate […]
Blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology (DLT), is a technology that enables the existence of cryptocurrency – the likes of Bitcoin. Blockchain is an accounting technology that is concerned with the transfer of ownership of assets and maintaining a ledger of accurate financial information. In accounting, records are maintained and stored in a centralized […]
The rise in the global use of digital assets presents new challenges for how to properly account for these types of assets in financial statements following GAAP. Understanding what digital assets are and how to categorize the different types of assets is crucial for the auditor. CPAs must be able to account for investments in […]
