Good News for Accounting Graduates

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, All Articles, Financial Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting.

Good news for accounting graduates! A nationwide survey of 3,500 accounting, finance, and human resource executives indicated that, in 2010, the majority of accounting and financial businesses that were impacted by the economic crisis are likely to hire accounting and financial candidates in 2010. About half of the survey respondents said they anticipated hiring support,… Read more »

Walgreen Outsources Accounting

Posted by & filed under All Articles, Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting.

On January 6, 2010, Walgreen Company, the drugstore giant, announced that it had signed a 10-year contract to outsource its accounting services with Genpact.  Genpact Limited, a spin-off from General Electric in 2005, characterizes itself as a company that has achieved growth from both existing and new clients as companies across industries enacted massive layoffs… Read more »

Wage and Hour Violations

Posted by & filed under All Articles, Intermediate Accounting.

On December 9, 2009, Wal-Mart disclosed that it had settled a long-running wage and hour dispute in Massachusetts for $40 million. According to the Boston Globe, this was the largest wage and hour settlement in the state of Massachusetts. Interestingly, it was just a year ago at the end of 2008 that Wal-Mart reported that… Read more »

The Worst Footnote Disclosures of 2009

Posted by & filed under All Articles, Intermediate Accounting.

Every year, Michelle Leder at www.footnoted.org, takes a look at the worst footnote disclosures that companies try to bury in their routine SEC filings. As her website states, the financial footnotes are important for all users, including professional money managers and analysts, accountants, and individual investors. According to her article, there are a lot of… Read more »

Japan’s Big Accounting Move

Posted by & filed under All Articles, Financial Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting.

During the week of December 7, 2009, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) announced that it is moving to the formal adoption of International Accounting Standard (IAS) reporting by 2015. Up until now, the FSA has allowed Japanese companies to file consolidated statements using U.S. GAAP, but in 2015 this may end. The agency will make… Read more »

Raising funds with Stock Warrants

Posted by & filed under All Articles, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting.

The biotechnology firm, Dendreon Corporation, is a company which is developing the prostate cancer drug Provenge. On Friday, November 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted its application to market the vaccine to treat men with advanced prostrate cancer. If the FDA approves it, the drug would be the first in a new… Read more »

Are Things Improving for Sears Holding Corporation?

Posted by & filed under All Articles, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting.

In the third quarter of 2009, Sears Holding Corporation narrowed its losses from $146 million in the previous quarter to $127 million. Despite this, shares of Sears’ stock have almost doubled during 2009. QUESTIONS: The article mentioned that because of inventory management, the company’s gross margin widened by 0.4 percentage points to 27.2%. What are… Read more »