New business reporting model beginning to emerge--timeliness, reliability, transparency to be improved.For nearly a decade, the AICPA AICPA See American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). has advocated a modernized financial reporting process that provides more and better information from which investors, creditors and management can make decisions. The highest quality auditing will be of declining value if the underlying information is outdated or excludes relevant factors. Using the current one as a base, the new business reporting model would encompass five fundamental elements: reliable systems to collect and analyze information; industry-specific financial and nonfinancial performance measures; better quality disclosures written in "plain English Plain English (sometimes known, more broadly, as plain language) is a communication style that focuses on considering the audience's needs when writing. It recommends avoiding unnecessary words and avoiding jargon, technical terms, and long and ambiguous sentences. "; corporate accountability; and real-time distribution of information. These fundamentals must integrate within an organization, as an organization moves toward online, real-time reporting. Achieving the online, real-time goal is the only way to truly meet marketplace demand for more relevant, up-to-the-minute information. By supplying a broader "bandwidth" of information that addresses such issues as off-balance-sheet activity, liquidity, nonfinancial performance indicators and unreported intangibles, financial reporting can begin to address the complexities of today's corporations. "Our current financial reporting model, although a solid foundation from which to start, is neither complete nor timely," said Senior Vice President--Member and Public Interests Al Anderson People named Al Anderson include:
All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. now want more information and `data on demand' using technology formats that allow quick access and analysis to help make better decisions." A special committee, established by the AICPA Board of Directors and operational next month, will build a migration plan for moving the elements of the current model to the online, real-time business reporting framework. AICPA committee representatives from assurance services Assurance services have been defined by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) as 'Independent Professional Services that improve information quality or its context'. , consulting services, the Auditing Standards Board In the United States, the Auditing Standards Board (ASB) is the senior technical committee designated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to issue auditing, attestation, and quality control statements, standards and guidance to certified public , accounting standards, business and industry, government, PCPS--the Alliance for CPA (Computer Press Association, Landing, NJ) An earlier membership organization founded in 1983 that promoted excellence in computer journalism. Its annual awards honored outstanding examples in print, broadcast and electronic media. The CPA disbanded in 2000. Firms and the board of directors will comprise the special committee. The committee will engage several constituencies and have various task forces working toward the common goal of making all five elements five elements, n.pl fire, water, earth, wood, and metal; in Chinese medicine, each of these five components is used to organize phenomena for use in clinical applications. Each of the elements corresponds to a specific function (i.e. successful. Watch future issues of The CPA Letter for more on this initiative as developments unfold. For an in-depth discussion on the new business reporting model, read the full interview with Al Anderson. Presented in Q&A format, it is available at: [computer] www.aicpa.org/download/ebrm/ ebrm-AAnderson08O.pdf |
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