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July Features |
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FASB Listens. Really!
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By Phillip J. Korb and Thomas E. Vermeer |
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Many believe that FASB has predetermined the outcome before it ever issues an exposure draft. The changes FASB made to its proposed treatment of business combinations and goodwill accounting, in response to comments on the ED, however, indicate that the public can make a difference and that FASB is willing to listen.
(Article)
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| SEC and EITF Initiatives
on Internet Accounting
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By C. Richard Baker
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The SEC asked
FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force to address their concerns
regarding accounting for Internet activities. The EITF
responded that, with few exceptions, existing accounting rules
could be applied just as well to the new economy as to the
old. (Article)
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Assessment of Analysts'
Target Prices
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By Stephen Bryan, Lee-Seok Hwang,
and Steven Lilien
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The recent
market bubble points to the flaws in the largely unregulated,
sometimes irrational models used by sell-side analysts to
determine their target prices for a stock. The authors closely
examine the case of MicroStrategy, Inc., to advocate that
buyers analyze the implicit assumptions necessary to support a
particular stock valuation. (Article)
(Downloadable Spreadsheet)
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Special Millennium
Section: Earnings Management |
| Twenty Pressures to Manage
Earnings
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By James R. Duncan
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Earnings
management is not a simple phenomenon, but rather a complex
one that arises from the interaction of a number of factors
within a company’s environment, culture, and management.
Identifying and eradicating inappropriate earnings management
requires a broader understanding of the varied pressures that
bring it about. (Article) |
| Auditors and Earning
Management
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| By Scott B.
Jackson and
Marshall K. Pitman
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Auditors are
most effective at detecting earnings management when their
skills are informed by an understanding of the motivations and
methods that trigger inappropriate earnings management. The
authors illuminate various incentives, such as meeting
contractual requirements or augmenting performance-based
compensation. (Article) |
