A Closer Look at Financial Statement Restatements
Analyzing the Reasons Behind the Trend

By Lynn E. Turner and Thomas R. Weirich

Just when the number of erroneous financial reports by publicly traded companies seemed to have peaked, they continue to climb. This article presents results of financial statement restatements during 2005 and the first nine months of 2006. The authors analyzed the reasons behind restatements and broke them down by auditor. They found that lease-accounting errors were responsible for a large number of restatement and suspect that hedge-accounting restatements may be a concern in the coming quarters. The authors also noted a recent surge in “stealth” restatements—restatements filed with an amended filing, 8-K, or other public announcements. In analyzing restatement rates by auditor, the authors caution that, although a high restatement rate may reflect low-quality audits, it might also be interpreted as a willingness to require corrections. Finally, the study found that smaller companies were nearly twice as likely to restate as larger companies.

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Essentials
Publisher's Column
Perspectives

Increased Clarity in Accounting for Operating Leases

In a February 7, 2005, SEC staff letter to the AICPA’s Center for Public Company Audit Firms (CPCAF), then–SEC Chief Accountant Donald Nicolaisen provided clarity on the application of three key issues for lessees The resulting wave of restatements highlighted the diversity in long-standing industry practices and the misapplication of existing GAAP in these areas.
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Interstate Commerce Versus Public Protection

Talk to any CPA about the problems facing the accounting profession today, and you’re bound to hear the phrase “substantial equivalency” repeated over and over again. Indeed, substantial equivalency is one of the profession’s hottest, most talked about issues. But what exactly does substantial equivalency mean, and why is everyone so worked up about it?
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In 1971, the AICPA published a booklet titled “Objective of Financial Statements.” This became known as the Trueblood report, after Robert M. Trueblood, the chairman of the committee formed to prepare the report. Shortly after FASB was formed in 1973, it began a study based on the Trueblood report, called the conceptual framework project. Full Story



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