Chris Hight's Articles

Conditions are ripe during the COVID-19 crisis for dishonest employees to steal assets, engage in corruption schemes and/or misstate financial results. Here’s a look at the fraud triangle and how the motive, rationalization, and opportunity to commit fraud has grown during the pandemic.

The AICPA’s Accounting Standards Board voted to finalize a revised definition of “materiality” in its professional standards. Learn what’s changing and why.

Equity-based compensation awards can help companies attract skilled workers and boost performance, although at a costly price. A rule change could bring welcome relief.

For years, businesses have complained that the guidance for reporting income taxes includes many mechanical rules and exceptions. But changes are coming.

A new FASB proposal would delay new accounting rules for leases, credit losses on loans, long-term insurance contracts, and hedge accounting.

The Auditing Standards Board is working on a project to amend its definition of “materiality” and address the subtle differences between the international standards and U.S. standards currently in use.

The FASB is in the early stages of developing guidance for performance reporting. The goal is to make it easier for investors and securities analysts to understand how a business works using a company’s financial statements.

With all the changes ushered in by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), you might be concerned with how the new tax law will affect your company’s financial statements. You’re not alone, as this remains a highly debated subject among many CFOs, audit boards and CPAs.

On December 22, sweeping changes to the federal income tax system officially became law. As a result of this timing, companies must face the challenge of applying the effect of the tax-law changes to their fourth-quarter financial statements.

Your annual audit should provide a valuable opportunity for management to reflect on past performance and plan for the future. It should be a collaborative effort between management, the board of directors (as applicable) and the CPA firm.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued its long-awaited update revising the proper treatment of leases under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), will affect companies that lease real estate, vehicles, construction and manufacturing equipment, and other assets.

Size does matter. Mergers between small-capitalized, privately held companies are different animals from larger-cap and public company combinations. Small deals can run more smoothly than large ones, but they also can get bogged down in issues that neither party could ever foresee.