This is inter­esting: An internal review at Canadian construction company SNC-Lavalin of certain payments approved by the CEO has resulted in that executive’s departure from the company. The payments in question were approved directly by the CEO after the CFO rejected them. Documen­tation was appar­ently sketchy, as the review revealed that the projects they were […]

More →

I received an email late yesterday from the IASB with the following message: The Inter­na­tional Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued today an Inter­na­tional Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) designed for use by small and medium-sized entities (SMEs), which are estimated to represent more than 95 per cent of all companies. The standard is a result of […]

More →

Since the mid 90s there has been debate within accounting circles on whether there should be two versions of GAAP – one for public companies and one for private companies. Big GAAP and little GAAP. The logic is that there are sections of GAAP that do not apply to non publicly accountable entities, and time […]

More →

The CICA announced late last year a draft version of a new accounting framework for small, owner-managed businesses. The framework is being developed because these types of companies don’t have complex reporting needs like public companies, non-profit organi­za­tions, or private companies with signif­icant third party investors or creditors. I haven’t begun working on public company […]

More →

The Accounting Standards Board of Canada has confirmed recently the changeover date to IFRS for publicly accountable for-profit organi­za­tions, set for periods beginning on or after January 1, 2011. The announcement is available in PDF format. It sounds like we’re going to have to know and be able to apply two sets of principles, as private […]

More →