See this article for a sad illustration of disbursement fraud. The specific technique was opening credit card accounts in the name of the company and then using the account for personal expenses. (more…)
Simple way to improve internal controls over disbursements
What could you do when there aren’t enough staff to have someone other than the bookkeeper prepare the bank reconciliation? (more…)
10 leading causes of death in 1850 and 2000
Fascinating display at the Reuben Fleet Science Museum in San Diego listing the top 10 causes of death in 1850, 1900, and 2000 caught my interest while on vacation. Focus of their discussion is on the change over time, particularly the change from infectious disease to other causes. Look at this list (more…)
You don’t need permission to change the world
Wish I’d written this: “Where, precisely, do you go in order to get permission to make a dent in the universe?” Seth Godin said that and discusses it further in “Do you need a permit“? To completely restructure his comment for our community — you do not need permission from anyone to change the world for Christ. Go for it!
Pushback on Revenue recognition draft – topic 605
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…)
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”.