More discussion of rules versus principles

Dennis over at AccMan Pro has commented on the difference between rules-based US GAAP and international principles-based IFRS, and his thoughts echo mine: Recent commentary has suggested the idea of convergence between US GAAP and IFRS won’t happen until hell freezes over. I’ve long held the view that the rules based US GAAP system isContinue reading “More discussion of rules versus principles”

Lease accounting to get overhaul

Apparently FASB is going to overhaul the US GAAP for leases. I’m not sure what exactly is going to be changed, or why it needs changing, but it’ll be interesting to see. Of course, Canadian standards are moving towards harmonization with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), so we might not see Canada following the USContinue reading “Lease accounting to get overhaul”

Bank of Canada chief pushes smarter provincial sales tax

David Dodge, the governor of the Bank of Canada and the current architect of our monetary policy, suggested the province of Ontario should revamp the provincial sales tax (PST) to more closely resemble the value-added federal GST in a rare appearance before the Commons industry committee. The suggestion is a solid one, as it wouldContinue reading “Bank of Canada chief pushes smarter provincial sales tax”

Does the media understand public accounting?

The short answer is no. Here is a story from the Associated Press that claims the FASB is going to “tackle the thorny question of accounting for leased equipment and property.” Excuse me? Have we just been ignoring leases until this point? Does any journalist do research any more? Lease accounting isn’t new, although itContinue reading “Does the media understand public accounting?”

Auditor laptop stolen, confidential data included

The auditor for Hotels.com is Ernst & Young, and one of their staff working on the audit had their laptop stolen from their car, compromising the credit card data of approximately 243,000 customers. These things will happen, but what I don’t understand is whether they’re just assuming whoever stole the laptop is going to beContinue reading “Auditor laptop stolen, confidential data included”