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

Where’s the Formula Writer in Excel?

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 Greg T. wins a copy of Guerilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel for his question: “I am ...

By Bill Jelen • May 4, 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

How WaMu Beat the IRS in Intangibles Case

On March 3, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service suffered a devastating loss to Washington Mutual in a U.S. Appeals Court decision in a tax-refund case concerning the basis of intangible assets acquired in a reorganization.Recent as the decision is, the case arose in the long aftermath of the federa...

By Robert Willens • May 3, 2011

How WaMu Beat the IRS in Intangibles Case

On March 3, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service suffered a devastating loss to Washington Mutual in a U.S. Appeals Court decision in a tax-refund case concerning the basis of intangible assets acquired in a reorganization.Recent as the decision is, the case arose in the long aftermath of the federa...

By Robert Willens • May 3, 2011

Modeling Disaster

“It’s surprising anyone can get any sleep,” says Bill Keogh, president of Eqecat, a global catastrophe risk modeling provider and consultancy. “There’s a lot out there that we don’t know about.”Keogh is referring to the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan. Aside from its ...

By David Rosenbaum • May 2, 2011

Secrets of the Bargain Basement

What a difference a quarter makes. Had JPMorgan Chase bought Washington Mutual on or after January 1, 2009, it would have faced reporting requirements that would have cast the deal in a different light. The earnings outlook would likely have looked weaker over the long term, for one thing, taking...

By David Katz • May 1, 2011

“O Canada”

CFO welcomes your letters. Send them to: The Editor, CFO, 51 Sleeper St., Boston, MA 02210E-mail us at [email protected], or contact a specific author by clicking on his or her byline. You can also post a comment directly on CFO.com by clicking on the appropriate link at the end of any article.P...

By CFO Readers • May 1, 2011

Are You Reinvesting Enough?

Faced with new, desirable investment opportunities, the CFO of a client company of ours recently chose not to cut her substantial share-repurchase program to fund the investments. Instead, she decided to finance the new outlay by slashing investments in two other businesses, both of which were gr...

By Gregory V. Milano • May 1, 2011

Negotiating with Goliath

Nearly 80% of companies responding to a recent survey from CFO Research Services say that most or many of their customers are larger than they are, which can certainly make it difficult to negotiate credit terms.“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot that companies with fewer than 100 employees can do...

By Alix Stuart • May 1, 2011

Fit to Be Tied

Maybe conditions have finally gotten bad enough to inspire something good.When President Obama came to Washington, D.C., two years ago, he vowed to overhaul the corporate tax code. Featuring the second-highest tax rate in the industrialized world after Japan, it was widely blamed for making U.S. ...

By Randy Myers • May 1, 2011

Secrets of the Bargain Basement

What a difference a quarter makes. Had JPMorgan Chase bought Washington Mutual on or after January 1, 2009, it would have faced reporting requirements that would have cast the deal in a different light. The earnings outlook would likely have looked weaker over the long term, for one thing, taking...

By David Katz • May 1, 2011

Negotiating with Goliath

Nearly 80% of companies responding to a recent survey from CFO Research Services say that most or many of their customers are larger than they are, which can certainly make it difficult to negotiate credit terms.“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot that companies with fewer than 100 employees can do...

By Alix Stuart • May 1, 2011

Spreadsheets: Letting Users Fill In the Blanks

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 Ebrima S. wins an e-book copy of Office VBA Macros You Can Use Today from CFO and MrExcel.co...

By Bill Jelen • April 27, 2011

For Richer or Poorer: Intangibles Spawn Deductions

Embedded in the tax code is the principle that just as companies must pay taxes on their earnings, they also merit tax breaks when they suffer losses. Thus, when a corporation incurs more expenses than revenues, its allowable tax deductions often exceed its taxable income by what’s called a net o...

By Robert Willens • April 25, 2011

For Richer or Poorer: Intangibles Spawn Deductions

Embedded in the tax code is the principle that just as companies must pay taxes on their earnings, they also merit tax breaks when they suffer losses. Thus, when a corporation incurs more expenses than revenues, its allowable tax deductions often exceed its taxable income by what’s called a net o...

By Robert Willens • April 25, 2011

Accounting Boards Delay Convergence Beyond June 30

The U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have put off the target date for completion of the convergence of international and American accounting standards until “the second half of 2011,” according to a report by the boards. In January FASB ch...

By David Katz • April 21, 2011

Accounting Boards Delay Convergence Beyond June 30

The U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have put off the target date for completion of the convergence of international and American accounting standards until “the second half of 2011,” according to a report by the boards. In January FASB ch...

By David Katz • April 21, 2011

Spreadsheets: Your Daily To-Do List Made Easy

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 David H. wins an autographed copy of VBA & Macros for Microsoft Excel from CFO and MrExc...

By Bill Jelen • April 20, 2011

A Dividend for Your Earnings?

CFOs working for companies investing in joint ventures and other investments employing the equity method of accounting would do well to take a look at how their company accrues taxes for the purposes of reporting such investments. Are taxes accruing at too high a rate?If they are, the company’s e...

By Robert Willens • April 19, 2011

Arguments Have Loopholes, Too

By statute, the federal government levies a 35% income tax on corporate profits. In reality, critics counter, companies pay less — often far, far less. The truth lies somewhere in the middle — but not in the part of the middle that companies would prefer.This was brought home last month when it c...

By Randy Myers • April 18, 2011

Arguments Have Loopholes, Too

By statute, the federal government levies a 35% income tax on corporate profits. In reality, critics counter, companies pay less — often far, far less. The truth lies somewhere in the middle — but not in the part of the middle that companies would prefer.This was brought home last month when it c...

By Randy Myers • April 18, 2011

E&Y Fails to Gain Dismissal in Broadcom Case

In a case harking back to the late 1990s, a U.S. Appeals Court reversed a District Court’s decision to dismiss charges that Ernst & Young knew about the stock-option backdating fraud committed by Broadcom Corp., its client at the time.Up until now, plaintiffs in securities lawsuits have not b...

By David Katz • April 15, 2011

E&Y Fails to Gain Dismissal in Broadcom Case

In a case harking back to the late 1990s, a U.S. Appeals Court reversed a District Court’s decision to dismiss charges that Ernst & Young knew about the stock-option backdating fraud committed by Broadcom Corp., its client at the time.Up until now, plaintiffs in securities lawsuits have not b...

By David Katz • April 15, 2011

Spreadsheets: Mission Impossible Completed with PowerPivot

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.Kelly W. wins an autographed copy of PowerPivot for the Data Analyst from CFO and MrExcel for submi...

By Bill Jelen • April 13, 2011

Beware the Bursting Bubble

Can history repeat itself? That’s a question CFOs might want to ask themselves concerning a recently decided case that harks back to the early days of this century, when the bottom fell out of a supercharged stock market.The case, Gudmundsson v. United States, has implications for finance chiefs ...

By Robert Willens • April 11, 2011