Timely financial reporting is key to making informed business decisions. Managers need to know what’s in the pipeline to respond promptly and decisively. Unfortunately, it typically takes several weeks to prepare financial statements under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). And many companies only produce GAAP financials at the end of the quarter or [...]

  Timely financial data is key to making informed business decisions. Unfortunately, it’s common for managers to struggle with their companies’ accounting systems to get the information they need, when they need it. Often, it takes multiple, confusing steps to enter and extract data specific to customers and/or projects. Businesses and accounting software solutions evolve [...]

  Related-party transactions and financial connections are a normal part of operating a business. But these arrangements have gotten a bad rap because dishonest people sometimes use them to disguise poor performance or dishonest activities. So, identifying related parties and evaluating your interactions with them are important parts of the external audit process — especially [...]

  In the first half of 2021, there was a surge in financial restatements. The reason relates to guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, requiring special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) to report warrants as liabilities. SPACs are shell corporations that are listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring a private [...]

  Many companies have resumed some level of business-related travel and entertainment (T&E) activities — or they plan to do so this fall. Unfortunately, these expense categories may be susceptible to incomplete recordkeeping and even fraud. So, it’s important for companies to implement formal T&E policies to ensure reporting is detailed and legitimate. Substantiating expenses [...]