|
2004
Max Block Award Winners Recognized
JULY 2005 - The winners of the 2004 Max Block Distinguished
Article Awards were announced and presented at the NYSSCPA’s
108th Annual Election Meeting and Dinner on May 18. 2004/2005
NYSSCPA president John J. Kearney presided over the awards
presentations, which were made by incoming NYSSCPA vice president
Victor Rich and Max Block’s grandson, Daniel J. Sherman.
The award criteria recognized the most outstanding article
in each of three categories of excellence that reflect The
CPA Journal’s mission and better suit the magazine’s
redesigned format introduced in 2004. The editors asked a
few members of the judging panel to reflect on what they had
found most useful, interesting, or enlightening about each
article. The winners are as follows.
Best Article in the Area of Technical Analysis:
“Accounting for Special Purpose Entities Revised:
FASB interpretation 46(R),” by Jalal Soroosh and Jack
T. Ciesielski (July 2004). Soroosh is KPMG Faculty Fellow
and a professor of accounting at Loyola College, Baltimore,
Md. Ciesielski is president of R.G. Associates, Inc., Baltimore,
Md.
Editorial Board member Steven Lilien found the article
to be of interest to both the user and the preparers of
financial statements: “For the user, it sheds important
light on issues surrounding control of entities, and also
on transparency of financial arrangements involving off–balance
sheet transactions. The authors go beyond simply listing
the rules, but also review the judgments confronting the
preparer and auditor. The article provides useful exhibits
covering transactions that may result in variable interests,
computation of expected losses after fair value of expected
outcomes is determined, and computation of expected residual
returns. I commend the authors for good professional writing.”
Lilien is a professor at the Stan Ross Department of Accountancy,
Zicklin School of Business, City University of New York.
Editorial Board member Dennis Beresford said, “Accounting
for special purpose entities is one of the most complicated
areas of accounting in recent years. This article does a
great job of explaining the business purpose of these entities
in relatively easy-to-understand wording. It also summarizes
the accounting requirements in a way that practitioners
should be able to quickly determine whether their company
or clients are affected. In my view, being relevant to practitioners
and being quite readable are the most important tests of
professional writing, and this article has both.”
Beresford won the Max Block Award in 1982, in addition to
winning again this year.
Mark Mycio, a senior manager with American Express Tax
and Business Services and chair of the NYSSCPA’s Auditing
Standards and Procedures Committee, said, “The article
provides a rare blend of broad comprehensive overview and
historical background. It efficiently presented cleanly
written technical guidance that effectively reduces the
complexity in a very complex subject. The charts and exhibits
clarify the text, rather than distract from it.”
Paul Warner, Editorial Board member as well as chair and
professor of accounting and business law at Hofstra University,
said, “The authors clearly describe the varied aspects
and structures of special purpose entities, and use this
background as a basis for the discussion of FASB Interpretation
46(R). The discussion contains extensive detail and uses
clear examples.”
Best Article in the Area of Informed Comment:
“Can We Go Back to the Good Old Days?”
by Dennis R. Beresford (December 2004). Beresford is the
Ernst & Young Executive Professor of Accounting at the
J.M. Tull School of Accounting at the University of Georgia,
Terry College of Business, Athens, Ga. He was the 2005 recipient
of the AICPA’s Gold Medal for Distinguished Service.
Editorial Board member Bruce H. Nearon, director of IT
security auditing services at J.H. Cohn LLP, said: “What
I found most useful was that Beresford has brought to the
forefront with insightful commentary what are to me some
of the most vexing issues facing the accounting profession:
standards overload, the related difficulty in reading and
understanding annual report footnotes, the near impossibility
of applying and deciphering some of the new standards, and
the shift to fair-value accounting. The most interesting
comment was his remark about clicking mindlessly through
the 150 cable channels and landing in Andy Griffith’s
Mayberry, which I often find myself doing at the end of
day after giving up on trying to keep from drowning in the
daily onslaught of e-mail. The most enlightening was the
sanity check in finding out that I’m not alone in
my thinking regarding the four issues noted above, and pining
for the good old days, but knowing we can’t go back.”
Mary Ellen Oliverio, an Editorial Board member and professor
of accounting at Pace University, said, “Professor
Beresford is his typically candid, insightful self in this
article. He is wise and thoughtful in this provocative assessment
of critical accounting issues. I hope it has encouraged
innovative thinking among readers about next steps. It would
be a treat to read his suggestions for resolutions. His
exceptional thinking, combined with his wide vision of the
field, is always refreshing and enriching.”
Elliot Hendler, a principal of Friedman LLP, is a member
of the Editorial Board and of the NYSSCPA’s Accounting
and Auditing Oversight Committee and SEC Practice Committee.
He described Beresford’s article as “a clear,
no-nonsense enunciation by the FASB’s former chairman
of the complexities in current and proposed accounting standards
that have left tens of thousands of accountants across the
country struggling to understand and implement. His observation
that standards such as those on derivatives and variable-interest
entities are almost impossible to understand, and his comments
on proposed fair value and revenue recognition standards,
are must reading, especially for the standards setters.”
Best Article in the Area of Public Policy:
“Audit Standards in Transition: An Interview
with PCAOB Chief Auditor Douglas R. Carmichael” (September
2004). Carmichael is the first chief auditor and director
of professional standards for the Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board (PCAOB). Carmichael is a member of the CPA
Journal Editorial Board, and an article that he coauthored
with Dan M. Guy and then–Editor-in-Chief James L.
Craig, Jr., won the Max Block award in 2000.
Rona L. Cherno, a member of the New York State Board for
Public Accountancy, past chair of the NYSSCPA’s Professional
Ethics Committee, and former AICPA Trial Board member, said,
“Carmichael appropriately reemphasizes openness, fairness,
and transparency in auditing. A key point is the encouragement
of all organizations with an interest in the work of the
PCOAB to initiate proposals. Our profession needs to continue
to restore investor confidence, by improving the quality
of audit work and financial reporting. Accountants will
work with management to lead in promoting corporate responsibility.”
Editorial Board member Julie Floch said, “Bob Colson’s
interview with Carmichael provides a wonderful glimpse into
the continuing development of the PCAOB, from the viewpoint
of both its current focus and its future goals. We get a
sense of the complexity of the process of creating this
new organization, from the most basic ‘how to staff
it’ concerns to the most complex ‘how will the
standards-setting process ultimately function’ issues.
The article is easy to read and fascinating to follow, and
it leaves the reader wanting to know ‘how it all works
out.’ I hope that a Part 2 will follow shortly.”
Floch is partner and director of Eisner LLP’s Not-for-Profit
Industry Practice, past chair of the NYSSCPA’s Not-for-Profit
Organizations Committee, adjunct lecturer at Baruch College
and the New School University, and a member of the IRS’s
Advisory Committee for Tax Exempt and Governmental Entities.
The editors thank the following Max Block Award voters
who, in addition to members of The CPA Journal
Editorial Board, provided invaluable input by judging the
nominated articles: Cynthia E. Bolt, Rona Cherno, Mark Hettler,
Mark Mycio, John J. O’Leary, Dwight Owsen, Allan Rabinowitz,
Frederick Rothman, Barry Seidel, and Charles Spector.
About Max Block
Max Block (1902–1988), a founding partner of Anchin,
Block & Anchin LLP, is described by many who knew him
as a visionary whose ideas have formed the basis for many
reporting and practice management concepts in use today.
Block was managing editor of the NYSSCPA’s Journal
(now The CPA Journal) from 1958 to 1972. Each
year since 1975, The CPA Journal has recognized
his contributions and achievements by bestowing the Max
Block Distinguished Article Award on the most outstanding
articles. Although judging and selection procedures have
evolved over the years, the criteria remain: “An innovative
and stimulating article which is of current significance
and which is likely to be of lasting value.”
|