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Jennifer Birtz on FASB
Written by: Jennifer Birtz
Have you ever felt like the FASB is just getting a little too academic and out of touch with the real business needs of our clients? Take a page from Mike Batts, a CPA in Orlando – here’s what he wrote to the FASB in response to its request for public comments on the new lease accounting proposal:
Dear friends at the FASB: I am concerned that you good folks have lost touch with reality, as evidenced by your latest proposal to treat virtually every lease as both an asset and a liability. This proposal would needlessly raise the complexity level for financial reporting with no real value. The fictional assets and liabilities that you would force entities to recognize are not substantive. If you are going to pursue this fiction, why stop with leases? Why not require every organization that hires a new employee to recognize an asset and liability equal to the estimated present value of the compensation of that employee over the estimate employment period? That way, companies could add trillions of dollars to their balance sheets. I guess we will need to do the same with utility expenses (electricity, etc.), telephone expenses, and any other obligation that is expected to continue for some period f time. As a matter of fact, why don’t we just go ahead and estimate the net income of an entity for the rest of its life, and go ahead and capitalize that? Please get a grip. Simplicity is a virtue. Complexity is the enemy of good, reliable information. Read the rest of this entry »
Giving Thanks
Written by: Jennifer Birtz
Giving thanks. Simple enough concept. Do we give thanks every day for what we have – not just the tangible gifts we’ve been given but also our health, our families, friends, neighbors, pets, our political leaders who make the best decisions they can on our behalf, our emergency responders, teachers, religious leaders…the list goes on.
This week’s tragic events in Haiti, already the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere, should remind us to give a very BIG “thanks.” And financial or other assistance – just donate to established aid groups with which you are already familiar (and keep your receipt). Please don’t become a scam victim.
I’d heard on NPR (my favorite information source) that 80% of Haiti’s official GDP (not counting underground economy activity), is foreign-aid related. I can’t imagine what it will take to not only reestablish this country to the poor state it was before, but more importantly, to help them improve what they have and build a better future for generations to come. I hope this earthquake was the final straw that broke Haiti’s leaders’ inertia.
Theft, Internal Controls & Prevention
Written by: Jennifer Birtz
Theft is an ugly word, to be sure. In down economies, like we’re experiencing now, even good, trustworthy people may make the decision to steal…almost always with the intention of paying it back later. Later very rarely arrives.
Internal controls are processes companies can put into place which prevent or detect fraud. This article is limited to discussing certain ways of preventing cash theft. There are hundreds of cash theft schemes – cash is the #1 choice of thieves. After all, the world runs on it. Read the rest of this entry »
Introducing Jennifer Birtz, CFE, CIA, CPA
Written by: Jennifer Birtz
Hi, everyone! I’m a newbie blogger…so, welcome! This is a pretty cool member feature – so, I’d like to say thanks to the GSCPA for offering it to us! I’ll probably write about fraud-related topics quite a bit. As a member of the ACFE (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners) – both the national organization and the GA chapter – I do what I can to educate about fraud prevention and detection. I’m also an avid NPR fan, so I’ll probably pass along interesting tidbits from their broadcasts. Read the rest of this entry »
