the Costco CEO has a simple employment agreement, others not necessarily so. Take a read of the complexity of recent deals. We are studying the SW Air annual report in Intermed II, this is a good example of how things are getting out of control, look for the FEDS to take an interest. 

Shell will be cutting jobs, and existing employess will be re applying for work.  Meanwhile British Petroleum, aka Amoco, is doing much better. Shell used to be one of the best, then execs mismanaged and misrepresented reserves resulting in investor distrust of Shell.  The international oil business is necessarily a long term proposition. Ethics matter.…

The Federal Pay Czar has limited salaries to about $200,000 for firms receiving Federal Aid. In an even more sweeping move, staggered election terms for Directors will e eliminated, making it easier to replace a majority of the Board at once.  These are major changes in how companies are run. Essentially the Federal Government is…

Apple reports Adjusted Sales for iPods, a departure from GAAP.  Sales and cost of sales are deferred over the expected 24 month life of the product. This in Apple's thinking better reflects their product support over that time. Take a look…

From the Texas Society CPA Update Accounting Degrees Continue Historic Upward TrendAccording to a recently released report from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) titled 2009 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits, the number of students who graduated with accounting degrees in the 2007-2008 school year surpassed…

I remind classes that while Presidents come and go, Goldman Sachs always has a man in the White House.  Let me get this straight. Hank Paulson Bush Treasury Secy was a Goldman man. When push came to shove,  Goldmand was fine, Lehman was toast. Advantage Goldman. Goldman now reports great earnings, get the picture?

Tina C. made this post about public accounting. I would agree. I have met individuals with the 'second tier' firms that seemed to have a life. However the deadlines brought on by tax time are well laid out in the post below.   think it would be fair to say that the second tier firms (and…

Scholes was the creator of the now famous Black Shcoles option pricing model.  Ironically he was a principal in Long Term Capital Management.  LTCM went bust. Greenspan thought he had to rescue it in 1998, he Summers and Rubin ended up on the cover of Time as three who saved the world. As someone noted,…

Bill Gross founded Pacific Investment Management Company. He comments on GM and unfunded liabilities. We will be studying such in Intermediate II . I am more interested in your understanding just how big a danger this is and will be than in memorizing journal entries. You  can read his monthly letters at http://www.pimco.com  Gross comments. …

I had the students in Intermed II write a short piece on IFRS, XBRL, and new developments in accounting statements this past semester. Yes it is that importnat. Here is an article from the Journal of Accountancy about implementing IFRS.  It will be reality by 2012.