Article from CFO magazine, One Size Gives Fits to All addresses the exposure draft on revenue recognition. As expected, pushback against the exposure draft is building. See my post for a bit of background on the draft. (more…)
Jim Ulvog
Revenue Recognition exposure draft – Topic 605
FASB has an exposure draft out on revenue recognition. This post is a ‘heads up’, not an overall summary. This will be a fairly substantive rule, so if you haven’t heard about it, might be good to take a look. The document has a great summary on the first five pages of the introduction. (more…)
One year delay in reporting cost of group health insurance to employees
The health care law passed last March requires reporting to employees the cost of health care insurance provided by their employer. The effective date has been delayed one year. (more…)
What services do you want from your CPA when they look at your financial statements?
There are three different levels of service that CPAs can provide when we look at your financial statements. We can provide a compilation, a review, or an audit. What are the differences? I have an article here that goes into some detail. It is an extract from one of my books.
The following post explains the differences visually.
Visual description of the difference between audits, reviews, and compilations
Here is a visual picture that illustrates the different comfort levels someone can draw from financial statements that have been audited, reviewed, or compiled by a CPA.
Here is a picture of assurance levels from reports issues by CPAs.
What comfort level is there from an audit, review or compilation report?
This is an explanation of the visual picture I drew in the previous post. I will try to explain the differences between audits, reviews, and compilations with a minimal amount of the technical words we CPAs usually bring to an issue. (more…)
How do the three sides of the fraud triangle work together?
As you can see from the previous posts, all three sides of the fraud triangle work together. A person has to have an opportunity to do something wrong combined with some sort of serious pressure along with a mindset to say that something that previously would have been wrong is now actually reasonable.
Lacking one side would stop the fraud. (more…)
Rationalize = Rational Lies, along with a theological observation
When a person is rationalizing a situation to convince themselves that it is really okay to do something wrong, they are telling themselves “rational lies”. Okay, it’s an old joke. But “rational lies” tells the story in one phrase.
A theological description of rationalization can be found in Jeremiah 17:9, (more…)
How to make every security mistake possible in just one day
Entertaining internet security and scam prevention story for you! Here is a fellow who made a mistake in everything he did all day long. Broke about every safety rule you can think of. Fun story of how to avoid getting scammed.
Personal branding
Everyone knows the days of working for one or two companies for your entire career are gone and will never return. That is even more true in the audit world. As a result, every one of us needs to take ownership of our personal brand (our reputation, our presence in social media, our career) and manage it. (more…)
Posts on fraud triangle added to a new page
The series of posts on the concept of fraud triangle have been pulled together into one page. This will allow you to read the series in chronological order, which should make it easier to follow the topic. You can find that page below the title bar, at the “fruad triangle” spot which is to the right of “about Ulvog CPA”.
We live in an age of overwhelming complexity. Will you choose to adapt?
We live in an age of overwhelming complexity. Things will not get simpler, the change will only accelerate.
Do I really need to explain that the complexity of everything is overwhelming? Consider merely the new 990, increasing regulation of every area of running a ministry or business, and the exponential growth of fantastic technology tools.
We need to decide whether we are going to adapt or not. It is actually possible to opt out of the growing complexity. Consider the cost though. If our ministries do not adapt they may die. More likely they will shrivel, then shrink into irrelevance. At a personal level, we need to adapt or get left behind.
I choose to adapt. I may be struggling and bumbling in my efforts, but I will move forward. How about you?
Rationalization – the final side of the fraud triangle
The final component needed to complete the fraud triangle is rationalization. This is the ability to persuade yourself that something you otherwise know is wrong is really OK. A lot of mental gymnastics are obviously needed to do so, but that is the point. If a person goes through those gymnastics, than what was wrong before is now acceptable. How can that happen? (more…)
Motivation side of the fraud triangle – part 2
Amongst the many dangers is that some motivations would be hidden from view in the workplace. Some of them, such as drinking or narcotics, would eventually show side effects in the workplace. Those factors could create visibility that would raise questions which in turn could in turn possibly result in discovery of the fraud. If that is the motivation, the plan could self-destruct fairly quickly.
An example of fraud motivation that took sixty seconds to find
It is very sad to read about the tragedies that take place. Immediately after posting the previous discussion of the motivation side of the fraud triangle, went to a blog I frequent. Have now added it to the blogroll on the right. Here is the article . It clearly illustrates the motivation factor. (more…)