Shell Games by Sara McIntosh

Sara McIntosh (a pseudonym) has published her first novel, Shell Games, a financial action/thriller.  It’s a good first novel, and well worth the time invested for reading. [ordering information] Shell Games is a fun read for anyone.  Accountants, though, will receive an extra dose of enjoyment.  The plot is thrilling.  In some tense scenes, I [...]

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A Man So Upset With the IRS …

Getting angry with a taxman from the IRS?  How could that possibly happen?   Perhaps it’s because of the IRS motto: We are the IRS. We aren’t happy until we make you unhappy. Frequent readers of The Summa are well aware of my fascination with Youtube videos.  They are so revealing of public sentiments.  Although the [...]

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The Holy Grail of Accounting Is a Fool’s Errand

A single set of global accounting standards, rules to be followed by any public company as it reports annual operating results, has become the  Holy Grail of Accounting.  In today’s world, these rules are embodied in International Financial Reporting Standards. Unfortunately for many good but unwitting people, advocating the U.S. adoption of IFRS is a [...]

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The SEC and Some Sort of Ostrich Syndrome

The U.S. government bears the societal responsibility for establishing accounting standards.  In its structure of economic regulation, the task for creating accounting standards is fixed on the Securities and Exchange Commission.  For seventy years the SEC has passed on its responsibilities, instead relying upon private U.S. organizations.   This has been called the Ostrich Syndrome (aka [...]

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Wanted: A Good Reason

In yesterday’s Accountancy Age appeared an interesting piece by IFRS reporter-advocate Mario Christodoulou, “The long and winding roadmap”.  He does an adequate job, I think, even if he didn’t quote any of the many things I’ve said about U.S. adoption of or conversion with IFRS. His quotation of fellow blogger Tom Selling statement of the [...]

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The “Professional Judgment” Problem

There’s quite a discussion going on over at AECM now, centered around whether or not corporate disclosures via XBRL tagged data will be audited, and therefore receive some sort of assurance blessing. One professor whom I respect a great deal is arguing that it is in the best interest of companies to make the best [...]

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Interviews With “If I Were An Auditor” Singers

Steve Zelin, “The Singing CPA“, and Edith Orenstein, FEI Blog editor, combined to sing, “If I Were An Auditor.”  It looked like they had a lot of fun, more fun that accountants ordinarily have.  So, I sent each a few questions to find out more about their experience.  In this blog post I first interview [...]

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ProfAlbrecht Appears In “If I Were An Auditor”

Debuting on Feb. 10, 2010 (in time for Valentine’s Day), “If I Were an Auditor” tells the story the story of two auditors who view their relationship through the lens of certain accounting and auditing-related concepts. The idea for the video and song parody lyrics was developed by Edith Orenstein, author of the FEI Financial [...]

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Hit Song: If I Were An Auditor

(Feb. 10, 2010) “If I Were an Auditor” – a song parody of “If I Were a Carpenter” – is the first ‘music video’ about accounting performed in the virtual world of Second Life. Making its worldwide debut in the FEI Financial Reporting Blog on Feb. 10, 2010 (in time for Valentine’s Day), “If I [...]

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Investors Dissed as Two Appointed to IASB

Last week, two individuals with corporate backgrounds were named to the IASB. According to a news release, the new members are Dr. Elke König, a former member of the executive board and CFO of the reinsurance company Hannover Re Group in Germany, and Darrel Scott, CFO of the FirstRand Banking Group of South Africa. Historically, [...]

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What Do Accounting Professors Talk About …

… when permitted to leave their offices for unsupervised free time? Most questioners ask only rhetorically. In response to my statement, “What is I do? I’m an accounting professor,” I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard __________ (fill in the blank with a much less than flattering comment about either accounting, [...]

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