Engineering firm embezzled!

Another case of embezzlement in a company due to lack of segregation of duties. Debra Skies who has been working as the office manager at McCord Engineering, Inc. since the company’s inception in 1985 recently turned herself in for embezzlement. Debra was let go...

IASB fights back

In response to the July report issued by US SEC (which did not give any idea as to whether and when would the SEC decide on adoption of IFRS by its constituents), the IASB issued its own analysis of the situation. According to the International Accounting Standards...

Audit of Village Court

A recent audit done of the accounting records of Waverly Village Court in New York showed a dismal state of affairs. During the audit period, Jan. 1, 2010, to Feb. 24, 2012, the audit noted that the village judges didn’t make sure court clerks kept track of the money....

Unauthorized release!

What really happened today?  As the news goes, apparently RR Donnelly relased Google’s 8K (earnings release) at 12:30 PM EST instead of the expected time of 4:30PM EST  “without authorization”. Among key highlights of the unfinished...

Is there enough competition?

After the major meltdown of the banks in Europe, the industry that has come under scrutiny almost as much as financial institutions is the audit industry. Had the auditor’s done their job well, the meltdown could have been avoided. This actually can be said of...

Who is a whistleblower?

A recent case , Spinner vs Lawson, extended the definition of the whisteblower under Section 806 of SOX. According to the ruling in the case, not only public company employees but also the contractors or sub contractors of the public company could be whistleblower and...

You've been warned!

The officials at the Sebewaing Light and Water Department in Michigan, did not pay heed to audit reports that mentioned significant deficiencues in the accounting procedures. These warnings date back to 2006. Finally in May 2012, the auditors noticed that the money...

Venezuela still hyperinflationary

When one reads the concept of functional currency in the Accounting Standard Concept 830 (ASC 830) or Financial Accounting Standard 52 (FAS52), it mentions that a currency in a highly inflationary environment (3-year inflation rate of approximately 100 percent or...

Creative accounting for Facebook

Recently Facebook was accused of indulging in creative accounting to save taxes in the UK. The company actually paid a mere £196K in taxes to the British government last year on reported revenue of £20.4m. The analyst expectation for the period was a revenue of...