Part 2: GAAP is GAAP - an argument against separate private company GAAP September 7, 2010 GAAP for private companies is a hot topic that can be looked at from varying perspectives. With that in mind, we offer this second entry of a two part blog series presenting both sides of the issue.
There is a lot of talk these days about the “need” for custom-tailored accounting standards [...]
Part 1: Separate Private Company GAAP - an argument in favor August 31, 2010 GAAP for private companies is a hot issue that can be looked at from varying perspectives. With that in mind, we offer this first entry of a two part blog series presenting both sides of the issue; be sure to check back next week for “the argument against!”
The Blue Ribbon Panel of the Financial [...]
Clawbacks get tough: enhanced requirements equate to compensation with strings attached August 24, 2010 Buried within the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 is the requirement for public companies to develop and implement a mandatory policy to recoup excess incentive-based compensation from current and former executive officers after a material financial restatement.
While compensation recovery policies (or “clawback” policies) are not new, these latest [...]
Revenue recognition gets a new look August 10, 2010 Accountants, auditors, and corporate entities alike, take notice: the exposure draft recently issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) promises that big changes are in store. Weighing in at 170 pages, the proposed new revenue recognition standard is designed to improve and align the financial reporting of revenue from contracts with customers and [...]
FAS 157 is dead. Long live Topic 820! August 3, 2010 Like the month of March, FAS 157 came in like a lion but appears to be going out like a lamb. Despite being one of the most controversial directives ever issued by the FASB, proposed changes seem to be attracting little discussion or debate.
When first implemented, the standard was widely unpopular among the Wall Street [...]
When you say Health Care Reform, I say tax strategy July 27, 2010 President Obama ushered in a new era for American health care this past March when he signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. A hefty price tag is inevitably attached to such sweeping changes, and to pay for it, Congress has instituted a number of new taxes, fees, cuts, and cost-saving measures. Some high-income [...]
Small businesses make for new faces in the acquisitions game July 13, 2010 Barrels of ink have been spilled over the past two years chronicling the precipitous decline in the M&A marketplace. While the struggles brought on by the global economic slowdown are given constant attention by the business press, far less time has been devoted to those who have the potential to take advantage of this (hopefully) [...]
Get your paper trail ready; expansion of 1099 use coming in 2012 June 29, 2010 Interesting to note with all the attention that has been focused on the healthcare reform law, a minor change with a major impact is dodging the spotlight. As this article from CNN notes, an enormous bureaucratic burden is looming.
The change revolves around expanding the use of 1099s from pertaining to contract labor to now [...]
Deferring the Roth IRA conversion tax — a no-brainer? Not so fast! June 22, 2010 In past MFA blogs on the subject of Roth IRA conversions, we’ve discussed how to determine if a Roth conversion makes sense for you; we’ve highlighted the estate planning benefits of a Roth IRA; and we’ve outlined several conversion strategies worthy of consideration (segregation strategy and arbitrage strategy).
By now, countless individuals have decided that a [...]
Don’t Ignore the HIRE Act: Tangible Tax Benefits Await Employers June 15, 2010 Through many of my conversations with CFOs, controllers and owners of mid-market and smaller companies, I’ve noticed a running theme that more emphasis should be placed on the tremendous opportunities afforded by the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act (see this March 2010 MFA Perspectives for more detail on the HIRE Act). While most [...]
Benjamin Franklin once famously quipped that nothing can be said to be certain in this world except for death and taxes. Though both will come, the how and the when remain a mystery, and in 2010 that is a particularly relevant observation. A number of new taxes have been adopted by Congress, more have been proposed, and the pending expiration of Bush-era [...]
Much has been made of the anemic mergers and acquisitions market over the past two years as economic turmoil and
tightening of available credit slowed transactions to a snail’s
pace. Profitable deals were few and far between, and with IPOs
also trending downward, the lack of exit opportunities
provided little motivation for investments in mid-sized firms. [...]
As the U.S. emerges from the recession that has plagued the economy during the past 18 months, private equity firms that have been entrenched in their investments are beginning to evaluate exit options in the hopes of earning what is now a long overdue return on their investments. However, there is still a lot of uncertainty on the horizon and as a result, transactions are [...]
In the wake of security breaches at such high profile companies as TJX and Hannaford Supermarkets, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enacted a law (201 CMR 17.00) designed to protect state citizens’ personal information. This law, which has already been revised and postponed three times, [...]
"Variable Interest Entity" is a term that often signals difficult work to come for accountants. Historically, FASB Interpretation No. (FIN) 46R, Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities, dictated a myriad of quantitative and formula driven criteria under which to evaluate the existence of a variable interest [...]
A trend that continues to grow in popularity is the outsourcing of key business processes to service organizations that have aggregated specialized resources and are able to maximize service delivery through a cost structure and economies of scale that often cannot be achieved via in-house resources. [...]
Did you know that employee benefit plans are now required to implement accounting rules for valuing and reporting the fair value of their investments in the plan’s financial statements? [...]
A confluence of downward trending economic and business events, including the continued decline in stock values during the latter part of 2008 and early 2009, is leading companies to reshape their business plans. [...]
Recent changes to Mergers and Acquisitions accounting has given rise to new questions, confusion, and sometimes even hesitation over completing a deal. Requirements under FAS141R are behind it all, and companies [...]
As if technology and the U.S. economic struggles haven’t made for enough of a roller coaster for international business in the past few years, globalization is really just getting started. [...]
A SAS 70 Report is designed to provide information and assurance about controls within a service organization to user organizations (customers) and their auditors. The services are conducted in accordance with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Statement on Auditing [...]
Over the course of two decades, online sales went from fad to fortune to bust, and have now settled in as part of everyday business for a wide variety of small to medium sized companies. In fact, if you’re selling something then you most likely have an online component [...]
In response to the massive financial scandals in Japan (e.g., Seibu Railway, Kanebo, Livedoor and Murakami Fund) Japan’s Parliament enacted the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law in June of 2006. [...]
The recent economic turmoil forced rapid change on the mergers and acquisitions marketplace, as the tightening of available credit pushed traditional M&A players—primarily private equity investors and large corporations—to the sidelines and dramatically slowed existing transactions The landscape yielded a [...]
It may be that for the first half of 2009, tumbleweeds outnumbered deals spotted across the M&A landscape. But even in the face of this financial crisis, companies are adapting to the new environment with creative structures that will enable dealflow to keep some form of momentum. [...]
WebCPA, January 23, 2009
Management Over Myth Interview with Carl Famiglietti, Managing Partner
Carl Famiglietti is managing partner of Moody, Famiglietti & Andronico, based in Boston. He says that accounting firm management often finds itself locked in a tug of war between applying theory and being pragmatic, a struggle that can dampen capabilities and in some cases, the overall development of a firm. [...]
In light of a struggling economy, collapsing financial giants, and the well-documented credit crisis, this year’s Economic Stimulus Act is big news.The move by the White House to inject capital back into the system is most famous for its rebates to individuals, but businesses will see the benefits as well. [...]
“One high profile piece of the CPA’s complex landscape is the common struggle to recruit and retain qualified talent,” says Carl Famiglietti, the managing partner of MFA – Moody, Famiglietti & Andronico, based in Tewksbury, Mass. [...]
You've mentioned you see the CPA and consulting world eveloving. Why should leaders take notice?
Sarbanes-Oxley and directives for Boards and corporate policy have chnaged company structure quite [...]
The shift toward mandating fair value assessments will present major challenges for many companies. A partner in a Boston-area accounting firm argues that businesses ned to determine if they have adequate resources for dealing with the issue in-house. [...]
There's nothing new about transacting business online. That's an everyday (every hour, every miniyte) occurrence relaied upon by businesses and consumers alike. In the software world, it's only natural that the web would become a critical point of sale. [...]
Someday, the accouting industry will look back over the early 2000s and pinpoint the moment when the compliance and accoutning requirements began to hold companies back from fulfilling their potential. A chain of events triggered by the implementation of the [...]
At the request of subscribers, Compliance Week offers a Remediation Center, in which readers can submit questions—anonymously—to securities and accounting experts. Compliance Week’s editors will review all questions and then submit them—confidentially, of course—to specialists who can address the issues. [...]
MFA – Moody, Famiglietti & Andronico, LLP is a proactive CPA and consulting firm located North of Boston with National and Global reach. Founded in 1982, the firm is comprised of nearly 100 professionals including 15 partners whose speed, precision, and commitment to client success results in proven best value solutions that offer the ideal combination of expertise, service and price.
