Block Journal (among various other sources) recently published the following: The number of US companies forced to withdraw financial statements because of accounting errors has surged to a nine-year high, raising questions about why mistakes are going unnoticed by auditors. In the first 10 months of this year, 140 public companies told investors that previous…

Few people would have been surprised that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is backing away from its previously-passed (but now never to be implemented) climate disclosure rules… …but recent events must raise questions about what else lies ahead for the organization. Recent reporting by The Economic Times sets out some initial Trump-era developments: The…

I recently mused here on the often-cited concept of the “public interest”… I say “recently” because it wasn’t even two weeks ago, but the post already almost seems like a missive from a simpler and more naïve age, given Trump’s rampaging destructiveness since then. The following is from a Globe and Mail column by Adrienne…

Let’s return to IFRS 18, Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements… We already looked at an entity’s assessment of its “main business activities,” relevant to determining whether certain expenses which would otherwise be classified as investing or financing activities should rather be viewed as operating activities. More broadly, the operating category of expenses includes all…

This is from the page on CPA Canada’s website titled “Advocacy: In support of the public interest”: We ensure Canada’s accounting profession optimally serves the public interest by providing high-quality professional development and extensive guidance to members, contributing to accounting standard setting in Canada and worldwide, and advocating for the profession and the public on…

As we addressed here, the IASB has issued Provisions – Targeted Improvements, an exposure draft of proposed amendments to IAS 37. You’ll recall that a provision is “a liability of uncertain timing or amount” and under IAS 37 in its current form is recognized when an entity has a present obligation (legal or constructive) as…

It’s telling that two of Canada’s major newspapers published very similar opinion pieces  within a couple of days of each other.… This is from the piece headlined Canada must stand firm on DEI as U.S. corporations retreat, written by Wes Hall and Walied Soliman, published in the Globe and Mail: In 2024, some of the…

Welcome to a New Era of Sustainability Reporting in Canada, heralded a recent news release. Here’s what that’s about: The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) is proud to announce the release of CSDS 1, General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information, and CSDS 2, Climate-related Disclosures, Canada’s inaugural sustainability disclosure standards. These standards represent a significant milestone in promoting…

Let’s return to the upcoming IFRS 18, Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements… Another key aspect of the new standard is its treatment of management-defined performance measures (MPMs), subtotals of income and expense that aren’t specifically required to be presented or disclosed under IFRS, but that an entity uses in public communications outside financial statements,…

Here are some extracts from a speech recently delivered by Paul Munter, Chief Accountant of the SEC, at the AICPA and CIMA conference. Unfortunately, across the globe, we have observed high-profile cases of unethical behavior by accountants that were not limited to just one firm, one issuer, or one jurisdiction. The recurrence of ethical lapses…