What’s trending today in Accounting & Finance?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Canadian Economy, Corporate Social Responsibility, CPA, Financial Accounting, Fraud, IFRS, International Accounting, Taxation.

These are dynamic days for the profession and opportunities abound. Here’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about best bets for jobs About six years ago Cathy Logue, an accountant by trade, and her two business partners launched Ambit Search in Toronto. The boutique executive recruiting firm is focused exclusively on filling finance and accounting… Read more »

MD&A (Management Discussion & Analysis)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Financial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, IFRS, MD&A.

MD&A (Management Discussion & Analysis) – Counterpart to or Distraction from Financial Reporting Introduction The MD&A  is an important component of a company’s reporting obligation. Intended to provide investors with more comprehensive information of financial outcomes, MD&A permits greater opportunity to present both short and long-term analysis. A study published by Contemporary Accounting Research indicated… Read more »

Going concern: When should the watchdog bark?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, IFRS.

International accounting standards definition of Going Concern: ‘a going concern … will continue in operation for the foreseeable future … [and] … has neither the intention nor the need to liquidate or curtail materially the scale of its operations’ The purposes of the going concern assessment: To determine whether the financial statements give a true… Read more »

A new CPA certification program ,effective May 16, 2012

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, CPA, Financial Accounting, IFRS.

A new CPA certification program Canada’s new chartered professional accountant (CPA) designation became a reality May 16, 2012, with the merger of Quebec’s CA, CMA and CGA bodies. To support CPA Quebec, and in preparation for anticipated merger developments in other parts of Canada, work on the proposed CPA certification program is getting underway. This… Read more »

Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises (ASPE) or (IFRS)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Financial Accounting, IFRS, International Accounting.

Canadian Private Enterprises will soon need to make a choice Canadian publicly accountable enterprises will be required to use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for fiscal years beginning January 1, 2011.  What about Canadian private companies? Canadian Private companies will have an option to adopt one of the two following sets of standards: International Financial… Read more »

The Future of Private Company Reporting?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, IFRS.

IFRS( International Financial Reporting Standards)  for SMEs (Small Medium Enterprises) is a separate comprehensive set of standards for non-publicly accountable entities that is the result of a five-year development process with extensive consultation with SMEs worldwide. It simplifies many of the principles in full IFRSs for recognition and measurement, omits topics not relevant to SMEs,… Read more »

Corporate Disclosures: To Disclose or Not To Disclose!

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis, IFRS.

Why do companies choose to disclose, or not, forward-looking information in their corporate annual?  Accountants have long known that disclosure is important for companies and users of financial statement information. In its simplest form, the voluntary disclosure decision can be understood as managers having an incentive to disclose if the benefits of disclosure exceed the related… Read more »

Going Full Throttle towards IFRS, could this cause more Accounting Shenanigans?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Fraud Accounting, IFRS.

Canada is in the midst of a seismic shift in accounting standards— one that will tie the country more tightly to international commerce, but might also result in investors being taken for a ride. Starting this year, Canadian public companies will issue financial statements using international financial reporting standards (IFRS) instead of the generally accepted… Read more »

Canadian Audit Committee Update: Evolving issues for 2010

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Advanced Accounting, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, IFRS.

Audit Committee Evolving Issues  focuses on communicating to stakeholders about the impact of adopting IFRS. Today’s changing business and economic conditions provide an opportunity for the audit committee to reassess its priorities and refocus its agenda. The purpose of the Audit Committee is to strengthen the integrity of the financial reporting process and the quality… Read more »