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The Raw Nerve of Materiality
FASB’s plan to use only the U.S. Supreme Court’s definition of materiality draws fire. Last year, when the Financial Accounting Standards Board first proposed jettisoning existing accounting lingo in favor of a legal definition of the word “material,” the board members may have thought they were making a confusing issue clear, according to former FASB chairman Robert Herz. Instead, the board’s issuance of ...
Read MoreNew Product or Different Presentation?
Courts and the IRS differ over a key qualification for the domestic production activities deduction. Since its inception, the Sec. 199 domestic production activities deduction (DPAD) has caused great confusion to many taxpayers trying to comply with its provisions. Though its intent was simple—to provide relief to U.S. manufacturers—its implementation has spawned a labyrinth of litigation, administrative rules, and ...
Read MoreFASB Proposes to Streamline Goodwill Impairment Tests
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is proposing to simplify the test for goodwill impairment for public companies and nonprofits similar to recent accommodations it made for private companies. FASB issued an exposure draft of the accounting standards update, asking for comments on the proposal by July 11. FASB amended its standards in 2013 to allow private companies an alternative accounting treatment for subsequently ...
Read MoreFASB Makes Additional Revenue Recognition Clarifications
FASB issued a third round of clarifications to its revenue recognition standard recently, focusing on narrow-scope changes and practical expedients. In coordination with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), FASB is responding to preparers’ concerns about implementing the revenue recognition standard the boards issued jointly in May 2014. In some cases, the boards came to different conclusions about issuing ...
Read MoreThree Ways to Improve Your Vendor Management
Most companies hire vendors in the course of doing business. The vendor could be a supplier of goods, a service company, a technology provider, or a building contractor. Senior management and corporate boards justifiably have questions and concerns about how to protect against vendors’ actions that might produce a loss. Examples that could happen to any organization include the following: (1) a software vendor’s employee ...
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