Accounting standards
Accounting Policy Careers
iption
Help ensure compliance of the company’s accounting policies with relevant authoritative accounting literature. The successful candidate will be a significant contributor in developing technical accounting positions, communicating with senior management, aiding business partners in understanding U.S. GAAP, and supporting new products and complex transactions. In addition, this role will provide the successful candidate with opportunities for growth by working on challenging business and accounting issues. The candidate must be capable of addressing complicated transactions to ensure they are well reasoned, aligned with U.S. GAAP and are operationally sustainable.
Job Responsibilities
* Monitor and analyze emerging issues and proposed rule changes; prepare comment letters to regulatory agencies and assist in the implementation of new requirements across affected business areas.
* Provide expert advice and accounting guidance for technical accounting issues related to new, unusual, significant and/or complex transactions or products.
* Prepare and/or revise accounting policies and procedures to reflect new accounting pronouncements or guidance, to improve clarity or to respond to changing circumstances.
* Advise Business Area Controllers on consistent and appropriate application of accounting policies and U.S. GAAP, including responding to day-to-day questions on accounting and reporting and providing guidance by analyzing data and assumptions and formulating possible alternatives.
* Liaise with the Accounting Implementation Group to assess implementation impact of accounting policies on the Business Area Controllers and Accounting Operations and address any implementation issues.
* Collaborate with the Accounting Implementation Group to develop and deliver training to the Business Area Controllers and Accounting Operations to help ensure appropriate training for new policy implementation.
* Review quarterly and annual financial reports and disclosures for consistency with accounting policies and U.S. GAAP.
* Communicate with executive management regarding accounting changes, new accounting standards, technical accounting topics, and other related business and control issues.
* Network with other industry participants, standard setters and regulators through conferences and other forums to anticipate regulatory changes.
* Maintain current knowledge of industry accounting issues and literature, including U.S. GAAP, to help ensure the company’s appropriate interpretation and compliance.
* Assist with projects and initiatives within the Accounting Policy Group and the Finance Division.
Job Requirements
* Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s a plus
* A minimum of seven years of experience.
Craigslist Proxy – Why Were My Accounts Put on Hold?
If you post on Craigslist then you have probably had an account put on hold at least once, maybe even twice. Did you know there are a few things to keep in mind when posting on Craigslist that will greatly reduce and help eliminate your accounts being put on hold?
Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when posting on Craigslist is that you need to be able to change IPs as much as possible. If you are just the casual poster and do one or two posts a week then there won’t be a problem. For those who post more than this, you should definitely look into some kind of setup that allows you to change IP. Craigslist offers two kinds of accounts. Standard and phone verified. If you are posting with standard/non-verified accounts you should do at most 10 posts per day per IP. For phone verified accounts you should only do 1 post per day per IP. If you go beyond this it increases the chances of Craigslist putting your accounts on hold. This is the number one reason people find their accounts on hold. The second cause for accounts being placed on hold is people post ads in the incorrect sections in Craigslist. Doing this increases the chances that people will flag your ads as spam. The more times your account post ads that are flagged as spam, the higher the chance your account will be put on hold. Try to post ads in the relevant sections in Craigslist and avoid having ads flagged. This is the second main cause of accounts being put on hold.
Hopefully with these two tips you will be able to avoid having any accounts put on hold. Accounts that are put on hold can never be used again, so do your best to remember these tips.
Accounting Ethics Courses: Optional or Necessary
Ethics and high morality are in high demand today especially among corporate America, and specifically within the accounting profession. After the ethical failures of Enron and WorldCom, a public outcry for future preventative measures resonated throughout the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the accounting community at large. Consequently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the overseeing government board of the AICPA, released the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, otherwise known as SOX. The act requires a higher performance standard for accounting firms and the audits they perform to prevent future accounting scandals. SOX, which has been extremely beneficial, doesn’t change the ethical standards of an individual but instead takes away most of the opportunity to commit a scandalous act. The basic character of the fraudulent individual remains corrupt, even with legislation in place. The question is then posed: Can ethics be taught, and if so, what accounting or business ethics courses are available? The answer is not ironclad as the word ethics describes the morality of an individual, which is hard to measure. There are also very limited courses offered on ethics, however ethical education should be a required course in college and a prerequisite to new employment for all accounting firms.
Most higher education institutions, and some high school level institutions, are implementing brief ethical materials into their curriculum, but very few offer courses on the subject. The basic argument against incorporating a required accounting ethics course is that there isn’t any proof that individuals who take a course would be any more ethical than they already are. If this is truly the singular obstruction to imposing an accounting course in ethics, than why aren’t other courses in the curriculum subject to examination from proof. Many audits, specifically those at Enron and WorldCom, have failed because of poor functional accounting knowledge, not just ethical queries. Most other curricular accounting courses would fail a proof assessment required by those who oppose an accounting ethics course. It is necessary to have an accounting ethics course to properly prepare students for any future ethical temptation they may experience within the field. Without experience in fraud recognition or ethical righteousness, many new timid accountants are susceptible to fraud or ethical dilemmas. A recommendation would be to add not just one course on ethics into a curriculum, but possibly three or four. A course in ethical theory could tie into another ethics course involved in spotting frauds and ethical dilemmas while a third course could focus on answering these ethical uncertainties.
The need for an accounting ethics course is also very apparent in how much destructive attention financial catastrophes attract to the profession. The recent big company accounting scandals all brought negative publicity to the accounting field. The burden of the economic failures in today’s society must be placed somewhere, and many people look at accountants as an outlet to place that burden. All of these events from big companies provide a negative perception of the accounting field, and that’s not to mention the small business owners who have encountered other accounting mistakes or unethical occurrences. This is not to say that legitimate and honest mistakes will not be made by new students, but the ability to recognize the mistakes and evaluate ethical problems can be reduced with the addition of an ethics course. The more education and experience that new accountants have and acquire the fewer mistakes that will occur, and ultimately the less negative publicity the profession will receive. It is extremely important that in the accounting profession, clients feel secure and trusting of those who they employ.
Another need for an ethics course comes from a common stereotype of accountants. The stereotype is that accountants are known to simply follow the rules, or do just enough to meet the basic criteria. To correct ethical dilemmas, it is required to go above and beyond the norm to investigate and solve uncertainties. A class in the area of ethics could help prepare and motivate new accountants to become more proactive when evaluating a possible unethical or fraudulent scenario. Clients will feel a greater sense of security with a proactive accountant, and ultimately bring more profit to the profession.
Society can not function without ethical people. The business world and accounting profession can not function without ethical people. It is for this reason that an accounting ethics course or courses are imperative. The elimination of stereotypes, fewer mistakes, and a heightened sense of awareness is exactly what could be acquired from an accounting ethics course. It is important to add ethics courses immediately, and for employers to require that their new hire’s be educated in ethics knowledge. If an employee is not educated and courses are not offered, employers should take measures to offer a mandatory ethics course within their organization.