Category: Forensic Accounting

Hollywood Accounting: Another good reason to read (and audit) your contracts.

Hollywood accounting (or Hollywood bookkeeping) is the term used to describe how studios report profits on movies and television series. It often carries a derogatory connotation because of various common practices which don’t follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or necessarily reflect market realities.  These contractually-based practices often serve to reduce revenues, inflate costs, and eliminate …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/hollywood-accounting-another-good-reason-to-read-and-audit-your-contracts/

The IRS may get over a billion dollar windfall because taxpayers failed to ask for it.

There is no time limit for the IRS to pursue a taxpayer for failing to file a prior year’s return when money is owed to the government. The same is not true from the taxpayer’s perspective. Time is ticking for those who failed to file a 2007 tax return upon which the government owes a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/the-irs-may-get-over-a-billion-dollar-windfall-because-taxpayers-failed-to-ask-for-it/

“Too Big to Audit” is no defense

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) again reported that it cannot render an opinion on the 2010 consolidated financial statements of the federal government, because of widespread material internal control weakness, significant uncertainties, and other limitations.” This has occurred for years. Although each year the federal government states improvements are being made, the bottom line answer …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/%e2%80%9ctoo-big-to-audit%e2%80%9d-is-no-defense/

Detest Your Boss? Call the Government

As part of the Obama administration’s “Middle Class Task Force Initiative”, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently teamed up with the American Bar Association (ABA) to help plaintiffs obtain legal counsel for claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).  Under this new …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/02/detest-your-boss-call-the-government/

Bear Stearns’ Defendants and Deloitte Face Significant Exposure

In a nearly 400-page opinion in January, a Manhattan federal judge (Robert Sweet) denied motions to dismiss a securities class action against Bear Stearns, Deloitte & Touche, and seven individual defendants.  As one might imagine from its length, the Court thoroughly addresses the allegations, and rebutted the defendants’ reasons for dismissal.   Here is a background …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/02/bear-sterns%e2%80%99-defendants-and-deloitte-face-significant-exposure/

CFO Incentive Compensation Not a Key Factor in Accounting Fraud

This last week, the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation published an interesting paper entitled “Why Do CFOs Become Involved in Material Accounting Manipulations?.  The research was conducted by four professors from the University of Pittsburg and the University of Washington. The professors started with 2,261 Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2010/12/cfo-incentive-compensation-not-a-key-factor-in-accounting-fraud/