Regulating meme coins, or: go for it, Mr. President

The US SEC recently issued a “Staff Statement on Meme Coins,” Let’s look at some extracts: As the New York Times pointed out, one of the more high-profile meme coins to date was issued by Trump during his pre-inaugural “festivities” in January, called $Trump, which “spurred controversy because it swung wildly in value and generated hefty…

The equity method, transaction costs, and the wonderful human zoo!

Even when one doesn’t care about the specific issues being discussed, the IFRS comment letter process is an informative case study in the diversity of human thought… Take for example the recent exposure draft on the equity method of accounting, intended to “provide preparers with solutions to long-standing application difficulties.” I already commented that I…

Yet more on the public interest, or: Demand the impossible!

My friend Walter Ross recently submitted a comment on my public interest-themed posts and I’m going to post it here to make sure it’s appropriately visible (to the extent that being on this blog is a form of visibility): Wow! Well, as he said at the outset, the goal is to kick-start a conversation, so…

Disagreements in revenue recognition, or: a billion bricks!

A recent financial reporting oddity from Zimbabwe… The company in question is WestProp Holdings Limited, an entity “on a mission to create a brighter future for Zimbabwe by developing properties in our lifestyle communities where people can live, work, shop and play.” As far as I could tell, the company hasn’t made (and presumably isn’t…

Restatements on the rise, or: screened out!

Block Journal (among various other sources) recently published the following: We looked at the Macy’s instance here, and subsequent reporting seems to confirm that it’s something of a peculiarity. As reported by NBC News: “The (responsible) employee told investigators that a mistake was initially made in accounting for small parcel delivery expenses, and then the…

The SEC in the age of Trump, or: into the wood chipper?

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: Beyond…

More on the public interest, or: outside the tent?

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…

More on IFRS 18, or: didn’t we do this already?

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…