By Paul Konigstein, AMS Senior Consultant Not surprisingly, the sudden demise of FEGS has been dominating water cooler talk in nonprofit offices for weeks. The question on everyone’s mind, as New York Times columnist Rachel L. Swarns put it: “How does an 80 year old agency with an annual budget of over $200 million crumble with so little warning?” Unfortunately, the answers being discussed reveal some common myths about the work of auditors and accountants. Inspired by the Discovery … [Read more...]

By Robert Francis, CPA, AMS Senior Consultant The Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) recently clarified requirements for management to determine if its company expects to remain in business. The FASB recently issued a new standard – Accounting Standards Update No 2014-15, Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern – that explicitly requires management to assess their company’s ability to continue as a going concern, and in many cases … [Read more...]

By Steve Jackson, RoseRyan While large valuation acquisitions of entire companies (for example, Facebook acquiring WhatsApp for $19 billion) grab the headlines, the majority of the acquisitions are for just a division or segment of a business, and they have much smaller price tags and light media coverage. Some of those deals are notable. Earlier this year, Nokia, which was once the dominant mobile handset maker in the world, sold its handset division to Microsoft for $7.5 billion. But … [Read more...]

By Pat Voll In a new small company, all the focus — and funds — tend to be on the development side, where the company’s product or service gets fine-tuned for the marketplace. The finance organization as a support function is often low on the priority list. But as the company grows — and tracking and managing the finances gets more complex — almost all spending will continue to be concentrated on other areas, leaving the finance department to fight over the bread crumbs. Continue Reading … [Read more...]