News & Resources

If your profits are falling compared to revenue and assets, your financial statements may provide insight into what’s happening and how to improve your performance. Watch for red flags As you sell more and invest

CFOs and other executives occasionally present information about the company’s operations, strategies and risks to the audit committee. Your presentation will generally be most effective if you fully understand the committee’s role, you’ve already established

A new accounting rule for reporting leases goes into effect in 2019 for public companies. Although private companies have been granted a one-year reprieve, no business should wait until the last minute to start the

Small private companies often criticize the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) for writing overly complex standards that focus on the needs of stakeholders in large public companies rather than “Main Street” businesses. Here’s how the

Auditors must test the effectiveness of internal controls before signing off on your financial statements. But it’s impossible to analyze every transaction that’s posted to the general ledger, due to time and budget constraints. Instead,

Management wants to paint the rosiest possible picture of a company’s financial performance. But aggressive earnings management, or “spin,” can mislead investors and lenders. Here are some ways U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) can

Corporate culture: Rotten apples could spoil your financials Auditors often say that the tone at the top of an organization trickles down to every level of the business. Is your company’s work environment ethical and

When accountants conduct an audit or review, they can’t test every transaction. Instead, they set a “materiality” threshold. This benchmark is used to obtain reasonable assurance in an audit — or limited assurance in a

Every business experiences occasional cash shortages. When this happens, owners often assume they should go out and sell more. But this strategy can sometimes compound money troubles over the short run. Why? The answer lies

Owners of closely held businesses sometimes need to advance their companies money to bridge a temporary downturn or provide extra cash flow for an expansion, a major expense or other purposes. Should you categorize those