Chicago Tribune (January 2)
“Who said: ‘Find out what the other team wants to do. Then take it away from them.’ Could have been Uber’s CEO, but no, it was George Halas, founder of the Bears.” As the Chicago Bears look for a new coach, it’s worth contemplating “heavy industries, or digital startups… business and sports share immutable truths about organizational ability and consequential success. Much of work life is a competition, right? Good bosses, like good coaches, are strategists and motivators who build strong teams. Games like football teach those lessons in fundamental ways that are useful in every field, including non-contact sports like accounting.”
Tags: Accounting, Bears, CEO, Chicago, Coach, Competition, Digital startups, Halas, Heavy industries, Motivators, Sports, Strategists, Uber
Financial Times (July 23)
The Toshiba and Olympus accounting scandals suggest “that Japanese companies are prone to manipulating their accounts. But foreign investors should not give up and go home.” Instead investors have an opportunity to “short shares in companies that will be struck by scandal next, to buy those that will be forced to change their ways, or to do both these things in turn.”
Tags: Accounting, Investors, Japan, Olympus, Opportunity, Scandals, Short, Toshiba
Bloomberg (July 21)
“Japan’s corporate-governance code, introduced only a month ago, raised hopes that the country’s ossified corporate culture might finally crack open. The $1.2 billion accounting scandal at Toshiba…underscores how much further the country has to go.”
Tags: Accounting, Corporate culture, Corporate governance, Hopes, Japan, Scandal, Toshiba
Bloomberg (May 31)
“Recent scandals at Takata (deadly airbags) and Toshiba (dodgy accounting), and Sharp’s ongoing angling for a government rescue when it should be shedding unprofitable businesses, are a reminder of how far Japan still needs to go.” Despite recent governance reforms, “Japan remains 30 years behind its peers in how its companies are run. Corporate Japan still indulges in cross-shareholdings and permits itself male-dominated boards, and the country’s timid media does little to hold it to account.” Still, progress is being made. “Some companies are starting to display the behavior Abe wants, and for which” overseas fund managers have “been agitating.”
Tags: Abe, Accounting, Airbags, ata, Boards, Cross-shareholdings, Fund managers, Governance, Japan, Media, Reforms, Sharp, Toshiba, Unprofitable
Washington Post (March 8)
“Obama has chosen to carry out hundreds of drone strikes against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, including one against a U.S. citizen, without any public accounting…. That is not how a democracy should operate…. The administration could greatly increase the legitimacy and sustainability of the strikes by openly laying out the criteria under which they can be carried out and by seeking congressional authorization.”“Obama has chosen to carry out hundreds of drone strikes against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, including one against a U.S. citizen, without any public accounting…. That is not how a democracy should operate…. The administration could greatly increase the legitimacy and sustainability of the strikes by openly laying out the criteria under which they can be carried out and by seeking congressional authorization.”
Tags: Accounting, Authorization, Criteria, Democracy, Drones, Obama
CFO.com (September Issue)
U.S. commitment to global accounting-standard convergence has been called into doubt. The final staff report of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ”expresses hesitation about merging international standards and U.S. GAAP.” The 137-page report, which has yet to be approved by the SEC, “made it clear that putting the IASB in the driver’s seat would be out of the question.” The report surprised some “financial reporting mavens who expected the SEC staff to move further toward convergence.” Instead, that goal is now “a little more remote.”
U.S. commitment to global accounting-standard convergence has been called into doubt. The final staff report of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ”expresses hesitation about merging international standards and U.S. GAAP.” The 137-page report, which has yet to be approved by the SEC, “made it clear that putting the IASB in the driver’s seat would be out of the question.” The report surprised some “financial reporting mavens who expected the SEC staff to move further toward convergence.” Instead, that goal is now “a little more remote.”
Tags: Accounting, Convergence, IASB, IFRS, SEC, U.S., U.S. GAAP
Financial Times (September 26)
“The business model of the Big Four accounting firms is under attack from the European Commission, which is pushing for tough rules that would force the firms to abandon their consultancy businesses and share audit work with smaller rivals.” The draft legislation is hardly a sure thing and the Big Four will likely do all they can to fight it, but Michel Barnier, the EUs internal market commissioner, is supporting the legislation as way to restore confidence in financial reporting.
Tags: Accounting, Audits, Big Four, EU, Financial reporting
Businessweek (December 21)Businessweek (December 21)
Ernst & Young LLP is being sued by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for enabling Lehman Brothers to engage in a major accounting fraud designed to deceive investors. Lehman routinely moved liabilities off balance sheet for a period of over 7 years while Ernst & Young was its public auditor. Through what became known as “Repo 105” transactions, Lehman would sell debt before reporting dates with an agreement to repurchase the debt afterwards. As much as $50 billion was hidden from view through this window-dressing tactic. According to Cuomo, who will soon step aside as Attorney General to become New York’s Governor, “This practice was a house-of-cards business model designed to hide billions in liabilities in the years before Lehman collapsed.”
Ernst & Young LLP is being sued by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for enabling Lehman Brothers to engage in a major accounting fraud designed to deceive investors. Lehman routinely moved liabilities off balance sheet for a period of over 7 years while Ernst & Young was its public auditor. Through what became known as “Repo 105” transactions, Lehman would sell debt before reporting dates with an agreement to repurchase the debt afterwards. As much as $50 billion was hidden from view through this window-dressing tactic. According to Cuomo, who will soon step aside as Attorney General to become New York’s Governor, “This practice was a house-of-cards business model designed to hide billions in liabilities in the years before Lehman collapsed.”
Tags: Accounting, Audit, Cuomo, Ernst & Young, Fraud, Lehman
