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After 10 years of work, thousands of meetings, and a lot of trans-Atlantic head-scratching, companies around the world are getting their first look at a new accounting standard on revenue [...]

Americans don't agree on much. But they agree about taxes. Unfortunately, the point of agreement is that the tax system is unfair, increasingly unworkable and politically nearly impossible to fix. [...]

Though opinions vary on whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been getting more aggressive in its enforcement, Chairman Mary L. Schapiro notes that in the fiscal year ending [...]

Security breaches are so inevitable that a major part of any company's strategy planning is not only securing current operations, but building a coordinated defense against future attacks. No matter [...]

As the American economy threatens to stagnate and even sink companies and governments, the two are reaching out to each other in hope and desperation. State and local governments need [...]

Are we looking in the face of the next financial crisis--the chronic, endemic underfunding of government pension plans? The problem is huge--so huge that, if it comes to a crisis, [...]

Corporate social responsibility is becoming 'business as usual.' Virtually every Fortune 500 company has some kind of CSR policy and mid-size companies are joining them. Whether it's merely a hat-tip [...]

In his 2010 State of the Union message, President Barack Obama announced a National Export Initiative and pointedly stated that 'If America sits on the sidelines while other nations sign [...]

Europe does it. So do Japan, Mexico and Canada. Arguments for and against a value-added tax in the U.S. have been going on for more than 35 years. With more [...]

The Obama administration's new proposals would greatly alter international tax rules as they apply to U.S.-based organizations, which already pay one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. [...]

The current financial crisis is hurting--both profits and pocketbooks--but what really stings is the fact that so few saw it coming. The warning signs were there: the breathtaking real-estate bubble; [...]

Can you imagine running an organization with more than $56 trillion in debt? The caveat: you can keep most of the total off your books--but it's still due. No one [...]

How much internal control is enough? Financial executives should be relieved to know that that question has no correct answer. It's unfortunate, however, since knowing the answer is a key [...]

A global economy has always seemed like a good idea, and the best part was being at the center of the universe, so to speak--in the U.S., or, depending on [...]

It's more coincidence than cause and effect, but Financial Executives International and substantial financial regulation were born at just about the same time. Thus, they share a history of about [...]

Three thousand years ago, revenue recognition was not a problem. You traded so many goats for so many sacks of wool. When you got home, you looked at what you [...]

It was a terrible time in the U.S., the dark December of 1931. Eight million workers had no work. Banks closed. Businesses failed. Investment evaporated. Bankruptcy prevailed. The Dow Jones [...]

It's happening. After a struggle of more than 10 years, Financial Accounting Standard No. 123(R) is going into effect. Since June 15, certain public companies have been accounting for share-based [...]

The trends in the accounting services in The United States and a forecast for the accounting industry and American economy are presented.

The US has been undergoing a crisis of ethics, with the actions of corporate officers affecting investors, employees, suppliers and customers worldwide. Once an ethical breach occurs, the effects continue to affect the global economy, and that has raised the CPA to the level of CEO. Discusses the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, actions by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and other accounting institutions, and some examples of corporate governance crises.

The enormity of the disaster in New York on September 11, demonstrated the downsides of global business. Following the disaster, companies under its business continuity plan, have determined their fundamental activities.

It has been said that coffee is good business because too often it's bad business. And in Brazil, it's getting very bad. But that's good...at least for the strong who [...]

HOW SOFTWARE STITCHED TOGETHER 1,500 REMOTE SITES NovaCare had a pretty big problem last year. Then the federal government stepped in to make things better. That's when things got really [...]

CONTROLLERS AND CFOS SHOULD BE LEADING THE CHARGE FOR BEST PRACTICES. No doubt, the most common phrase heard in Corporate America today is, 'I've stepped away from my desk,' an [...]

TECHNOLOGY HIT HUMAN RESOURCES PRETTY HARD ABOUT SIX YEARS AGO WHEN THE TIDAL WAVE OF CLIENT/SERVER SOFTWARE SWEPT THROUGH THE COUNTRY'S LARGER CORPORATIONS. IT CHANGED EVERYTHING. THE LEARNING CURVE WAS [...]

A growing number of business are outsourcing their payroll management processes to their accounting firms. However, accounting firms have responded differently to this trend. Some have welcomed it because of the additional income it generates while others provide payroll services just to satisfy and retain their clients. Accounting firms also offer certain advantages over national payroll services such as the ability to make efficient use of payroll data and better customer service.

With updated branding, this year the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) hits a key milestone: the big Four-0. Established in 1973, prior to its first meeting on July 5, standard [...]

Integrated reporting has been gaining attention as a potential solution to widely perceived inadequacies of financial reporting. Going far beyond traditional financial reporting methods, integrated reporting brings together interrelated information [...]

After a long and complicated development period, the Financial Accounting Foundation has announced the creation of the Private Company Council (PCC), which, once up and running, should provide non-public companies [...]

The best thing that ever happened in El Salvador was the cataclysmic collision of the Caribbean and Cocos tectonic plates. If it hadn't been for that, El Salvador, not to [...]

Traditionally the coffees called 'Santos' have included just about every bean to come out of Brazil. But Brazil is a big place, and just because a sack of coffee happens [...]

It's no coincidence that the 80 years of Financial Executives International's existence have been witness to the most financial innovation in history. Technology, economics and politics converged to create new [...]

When historians of the future look back on the 20th century, they may well give it the moniker of 'Century of the Economy.' At no previous time in history had [...]

IN THE DARKENING DAYS OF LATE 1931 IN a world teetering on the brink of economic collapse, eight corporate controllers met in New York City to light a candle. Banks [...]

Eastern Europe is hot. The iron curtain is down, markets are opening up and Western companies are rushing in to set up shop. The six largest international accounting firms and [...]

WORD CRUNCHING: A PRIMER FOR ACCOUNTANTS The keys are to keep your communications simple, concise and specific. Any accountant who's been in the profession for long knows crunching numbers is [...]

For America's financial executives who haven't kept up with the latest accounting news, a call this summer for comments from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) should garner your [...]

XBRL is today what HTML was 10 years ago: full of potential, yet all but unknown. And those who know what XBRL, or eXtensible Business Reporting Language, is all about [...]

WASHINGTON -- The House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises has approved a bill that would, for the first time, override a standard expected to be issued by [...]

The corporations, regulators, trade associations and the government of America are trying to improve the financial information supply chain. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and a host of preventive measures apply its standards to the audit of public companies that provides financial statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For over 20 years there has been some disgruntled rumbling in the trenches of the accounting profession. As the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issues ever-more complex and arcane standards, [...]

President George W. Bush's philosophy on taxation is that income should be taxed either at its corporate or personal manifestation and savings and investments should not be taxed at all. The American government may soon run up unprecedented expenditures, if Bush persists in cutting taxes while waging war.

The major professional organizations for accounts have always required their members to meet codes of ethics, but after the recent spate of accounting scandals, those organizations are looking for ways [...]

Edmund Jenkins, chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), at a congressional hearing said that Enron's plight was caused, as the adequate accounting standards had simply not been met. American corporations and financial markets are now looking for ways to protect and enhance their financial reporting system to avoid situations similar to those of Enron.

One divisive issue threatens the world's progress toward a single acceptable language of accounting. The Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) 2001 report found that half of the countries surveyed had significant differences between their standards and those of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

NEW YORK -- There's something radical in the wind and, fortunately, it isn't anthrax. It's intangibles, the invisible elements of that shimmering, ethereal non-stuff that constitutes over three-quarters of the [...]

Accountants are increasingly recognizing the need to develop procedures for dealing with intangibles. In Australia, the Accounting Standards Board has placed strong emphasis on this issue, and the International Accounting Standards Board is now working on business combination and the intangible as goodwill.

Norwalk -- The Governmental Accounting Standards Board used 1997 to gather comments and work toward a consensus on a porposed standard that could fundamentally change the way state and local [...]

Hickory Corners, Mich. -- William U. Parfet has risen to the chairmanship of the Financial Executives Institute at a particularly crucial juncture in the history of modern finance. Global accounting [...]