Late last week, the IRS announced that it will be publishing Revenue Ruling 2012-14, which will provide guidance for determining the amount of a partnership’s nonrecourse liabilities a partner is permitted to include in his measurement of insolvency for purposes of applying the exception to cancellation of indebtedness income found at I.R.C. § 108(a)(1)(B). That’s…
Governance: Compensation 3rd in a Series As a follow-up to our initial tax tip in this series entitled “Governance Issues for Tax-Exempt Organizations”, which was released on April 25, 2012, WithumSmith+Brown has compiled a list of what we believe to be “best practices” with respect to each topic included in the Federal Form 14114, Governance…
Advice to all Broker-Dealers Out There… Last week’s blog mentioned issues discussed at the New York State Society Broker-Dealer Conference. In particular, one of the presenters mentioned that BDs should keep it simple. The BD should not guarantee anything nor should its assets secure anything. Why is this important to the BD? Well, in calculating…
This post covers additional misrepresentations and how forensic accountants identify them. Concealed Liabilities and Expenses Concealed liabilities can include warranties attached to sales, underreported Incurred-but-not-Reported (IBNR) health benefits, or simple omission of liabilities. Expenses can be concealed by capitalization that spreads the expense out over a number of years by recording an asset and annual…
Broker-Dealer Conference Summary In NYC This past week the New York State Society of CPAs held their annual Broker-Dealer Conference at the New York Marriot Marquis. I was unable to attend as I had an AICPA Peer Review Board meeting in North Carolina. One of my partners, Brian Wallace, who heads up the WS+B Broker-Dealer…
Governance: Governing Body and Management 2nd in a Series As a follow-up to our initial tax tip in this series entitled “Governance Issues for Tax-Exempt Organizations”, which was released on April 25, 2012, WithumSmith+Brown has compiled a list of what we believe to be “best practices” with respect to each topic included in the Federal…
PCAOB Pilot Program to Inspect Firms That Audit Broker Dealers A couple of years ago, a gentleman by the name of Bernie Madoff, “made off” with lots of people’s money,around $65 billion, give or take a few billion. His accountant was, for all intents and purposes, a sole practitioner. Public perception was, “How can a…
Share As businesses face yet another season of tepid market demand and tight credit, having access to accurate and timely information about your company’s financial health will be more important than ever this year. Whether on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis, business owners can turn to a trio of financial measuring tools to stay…
Let’s review the final stages of an investigation and how a conclusion is reached. Creating the Hypothesis and Collecting the Data Once the interviewing process has concluded, I will brainstorm possible ways the fraud could have occurred and then formulates a hypothesis of how I believe the fraud occurred. This is the point in which…
Social Media and Investment Advisors – Perfect Together? When I think of social media, I think of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Having my email account notify me that one of my friends just got a promotion or child hit a home run in little league is nice to hear. With the benefits of the good…