SEC IFRS Plan Would Change FASB’s Role

Without weighing in on when — or if — the Securities and Exchange Commission will incorporate international financial reporting standards (IFRS) into the financial reporting system for U.S. issuers, the SEC staff issued a paper on Thursday that shed some light on one possible plan for implementat...

By David Katz • May 27, 2011

SEC IFRS Plan Would Change FASB’s Role

Without weighing in on when — or if — the Securities and Exchange Commission will incorporate international financial reporting standards (IFRS) into the financial reporting system for U.S. issuers, the SEC staff issued a paper on Thursday that shed some light on one possible plan for implementat...

By David Katz • May 27, 2011

Explore the Trendline➔

Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

CFOs Dish On the Big Four

The Big Four may have a lock on much of the auditing market for public companies, but that doesn’t mean they have a lock on customer satisfaction. About 40% of finance executives at large publicly traded companies that use a Big Four firm do not recommend the firm to others, and 18% are actively ...

By Alix Stuart • May 26, 2011

Spreadsheets: Set Up a Subtotal-Filter Combo in a Flash

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.Reader Alan B. wins an autographed copy of Learn Excel 97-2007 from CFO.com and MrExcel for his sug...

By Bill Jelen • May 25, 2011

Reported Fraud Jumped in Q1, Survey Finds

In what might be a lagging indicator of recession-spawned misdeeds, the percentage of reported corporate frauds compared with all other reported incidents increased to 20.3% in the first quarter of 2011, a rise of more than 60 basis points from the previous quarter, according to data from 1,000 o...

By David Katz • May 24, 2011

Reported Fraud Jumped in Q1, Survey Finds

In what might be a lagging indicator of recession-spawned misdeeds, the percentage of reported corporate frauds compared with all other reported incidents increased to 20.3% in the first quarter of 2011, a rise of more than 60 basis points from the previous quarter, according to data from 1,000 o...

By David Katz • May 24, 2011

When Risk Reduction Yields Tax Deductions

Under previous interpretations of tax law, certain kinds of companies looking to spin off subsidiaries for the purpose of shedding risks would be taxed on the costs of distributing shares as part of the transaction. But the Internal Revenue Service may have changed its mind, suggests a recent rul...

By Robert Willens • May 23, 2011

When Risk Reduction Yields Tax Deductions

Under previous interpretations of tax law, certain kinds of companies looking to spin off subsidiaries for the purpose of shedding risks would be taxed on the costs of distributing shares as part of the transaction. But the Internal Revenue Service may have changed its mind, suggests a recent rul...

By Robert Willens • May 23, 2011

Spreadsheets: Use a Macro to Solve Header-aches

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.Wayne R. wins a copy of Learn Excel 97-2007 from CFO and MrExcel.com for his question, “How do I li...

By Bill Jelen • May 18, 2011

Does Growth Require Cash?

Chuck Mulford dates the birth of his brainchild, a just-launched metric he calls the Free Cash Profile, to a conversation he had about 20 years ago with the chief executive officer of a very small company called Information Resource Engineering. Mulford, a Georgia Tech accounting professor whose ...

By David Katz • May 18, 2011

Getting Off the Paper Trail

Since the dawning of digitization, the paperless office has been a holy grail, glimpsed from afar. Wouldn’t it be nice to rid ourselves of all that clutter while saving money and trees? One sometimes imagines the grail is within reach. For example, according to the American Forest & Paper Ass...

By David Rosenbaum • May 17, 2011

The Good, the Bad, and the REIT

Contrary to popular belief, gambling can be good for your taxes. That’s so even if you manage a real estate investment trust that garners a percentage of its rent based on a casino’s winnings, the Internal Revenue recently found.In terms of tax, a REIT’s income may be considered “bad” under rules...

By Robert Willens • May 17, 2011

The Good, the Bad, and the REIT

Contrary to popular belief, gambling can be good for your taxes. That’s so even if you manage a real estate investment trust that garners a percentage of its rent based on a casino’s winnings, the Internal Revenue recently found.In terms of tax, a REIT’s income may be considered “bad” under rules...

By Robert Willens • May 17, 2011

Can CFOs Be Whistle-blowers?

Draft legislation would exclude CFOs from collecting a whistle-blower bounty created under the Dodd-Frank Act. The law passed last year aimed to give witnesses to securities fraud a monetary incentive — starting at $100,000 — to report wrongdoing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under a...

By Sarah Johnson • May 13, 2011

Accounting Boards Issue Converged Fair-Value Standards

In an action that may be more significant for its uniformity than for what it does, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board today issued fair-value measurement and disclosure requirements that are almost entirely the same.Indeed, the largest diffe...

By David Katz • May 12, 2011

CFOs Hate the Corporate Rate

Finance chiefs were in the spotlight on Capitol Hill Thursday as they testified before the House Ways and Means Committee about the corporate tax rate. At a hearing convened by committee chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), CFOs Greg Hayes of United Technologies, Mark Buthman of Kimberly-Clark, Ed Rapp ...

By Kate O'Sullivan • May 12, 2011

Clawbacks Revisited

Much attention has been paid to Dodd-Frank-mandated changes in public-company compensation programs and proxy disclosure that are designed to influence say-on-pay voting this proxy season. Obtaining a favorable vote is clearly not a certainty. As of early May, there were at least 16 public compan...

By Andrew Liazos • May 12, 2011

CFOs Hate the Corporate Rate

Finance chiefs were in the spotlight on Capitol Hill Thursday as they testified before the House Ways and Means Committee about the corporate tax rate. At a hearing convened by committee chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), CFOs Greg Hayes of United Technologies, Mark Buthman of Kimberly-Clark, Ed Rapp ...

By Kate O'Sullivan • May 12, 2011

Accounting Boards Issue Converged Fair-Value Standards

In an action that may be more significant for its uniformity than for what it does, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board today issued fair-value measurement and disclosure requirements that are almost entirely the same.Indeed, the largest diffe...

By David Katz • May 12, 2011

Spreadsheets: More than One Way to Skin a VLOOKUP

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.In last week’s column, Greg asked about a multiconditional wizard that would generate something sim...

By Bill Jelen • May 11, 2011

The Debt Remains the Same

The nature of the debt and the constancy of the debt holders are what matters in a corporate restructuring. What doesn’t matter is that the debt has been shifted among subsidiaries.That was the bottom line in a letter ruling (LTR 201010015) released March 12 by the Internal Revenue Service. The I...

By Robert Willens • May 10, 2011

The Debt Remains the Same

The nature of the debt and the constancy of the debt holders are what matters in a corporate restructuring. What doesn’t matter is that the debt has been shifted among subsidiaries.That was the bottom line in a letter ruling (LTR 201010015) released March 12 by the Internal Revenue Service. The I...

By Robert Willens • May 10, 2011

SEC Cracking Down on Foreign Shell Cos.

While the Securities and Exchange Commission has recently stepped up its enforcement efforts against allegedly fraudulent U.S. shell companies in greater China, those efforts aren’t limited to that region, according to James Kroeker, the SEC’s chief accountant.Speaking at last week’s Zicklin Cent...

By David Katz • May 9, 2011

SEC Cracking Down on Foreign Shell Cos.

While the Securities and Exchange Commission has recently stepped up its enforcement efforts against allegedly fraudulent U.S. shell companies in greater China, those efforts aren’t limited to that region, according to James Kroeker, the SEC’s chief accountant.Speaking at last week’s Zicklin Cent...

By David Katz • May 9, 2011

FASB Chair Answers Push for Private-Company GAAP

Prompted by a proposal earlier this year by a blue-ribbon panel on the future of private-company accounting standards — a proposal that includes giving oversight of those standards to a brand-new board — the Financial Accounting Standards Board has heightened its focus on private-company issues, ...

By David Katz • May 6, 2011