Course Information

The purpose of this course is to inform the reader of the various changes to accounting and financial reporting affecting the accounting professional. Topics include a review of FASB projects including those related to financial performance, leases, and financial instruments, practice issues involving the statement of cash flows, fair value reporting, pensions, the international convergence project, little GAAP, and more. The structure of the course is to encourage the reader to recall existing GAAP rules coupled with identifying, stating, and outlining rules related to new and proposed pronouncements.

The course also includes a discussion of accounting and financial reporting issues – post-COVID, the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) including the accounting for the IRS ERC withdrawal program, and the Pass-Through Entity (PTE) Tax.

Part 1: Recognize a reason public companies over disclose in their notes to financial statements. Identify the goal of the FASB’s Disaggregation-Income Statement Expenses project. Recall the definition of free cash flow. Recognize some of the key ratios used to analyze working capital. Identify some of the symptoms of inefficiently managed working capital. Recognize one of the characteristics of a multi-employer pension plan. Recognize the impact that life expectancy has on the amount of a pension liability. Identify the shift in the types of retirement plans over the past decade. Review the financial statement presentations permitted under the LIFO Conformity Requirement. Review how debt and equity securities should be accounted for under GAAP. Recognize the type of information that is used to estimate credit losses under ASU 2016-13. Review the method used to estimate credit losses under ASU 2016-13. Recognize a key change found in the new lease standard. Identify how a lessee recognizes a lease liability under the new lease standard. Identify potential impacts from implementing the new lease standard. Recognize the general structure of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC). Recall the general GAAP rule for management’s evaluation of going concern. Recognize criteria for presenting a transaction as part of discontinued operations. Identify a method that can be used to record variable consideration under the revenue standard. Recognize the approaches that are used to record revenue under the new revenue standard. Recognize a feature of high-quality earnings. Part 2: Identify a concentration of risk that might require disclosure. Recall how LIFO inventories should be valued under GAAP. Recognize how to present the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) in the statement of income. Identify how to account for the Pass-Through Entity (PTE) Tax under GAAP. Recognize the VIE accounting alternative for leases under common control. Parts 3 and 4: Review the accounting for a net operating loss. Recall the rule for deductibility of interest in IRC 163(j). Identify a particular way in which most marijuana businesses must operate. Recognize when a state might be able to charge sales tax under the Wayfair decision. Identify some unusual transactions and how they are recorded on the statement of cash flows. Part 5: Review how to account for a joint venture. Identify how to measure a crypto asset and record it on the balance sheet and income statement. Recall some of the new disclosures for income taxes required by ASU 2023-09