Know All of Your Alternative Financial Reporting Options

Author: Salvatore Collemi

Among a myriad of complex financial accounting and reporting matters facing financial decision-makers, accountants and auditors of small to medium-sized privately held businesses in the United States, there is hope! Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP) is not the final word of financial reporting and disclosure.

Over the last decade, financial statement preparers and users have sought practical solutions to provide high-quality financial reporting results without the complications of U.S. GAAP. Fortunately, alternative frameworks do exist! It’s just a matter of performing adequate due diligence to decipher which alternative financial reporting framework works best for you.

Publication Date: November 2018

Designed For
CPAs, accountants, auditors, CEOs, CFOs, controllers, financial statement preparers and others seeking guidance on alternative financial reporting options available besides accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP).

Topics Covered

• AICPA's Special Purpose Frameworks — modified cash basis, income tax basis, contractual basis, regulatory basis, etc.
• AICPA's Financial Reporting Framework for Small and Medium-Sized Entities (SMEs)
• Full-IFRS and IFRS for SMEs
• Deciding on a Reporting Framework
• Technical Resources

Learning Objectives

• Recognize practical and insightful perspectives on the various financial reporting options
• Identify alternative financial reporting frameworks to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP)
• Recognize which authoritative standards lack guidance specific to special purpose frameworks
• Identify correct statements with respect to the transition from U.S. GAAP to a special purpose framework
• Describe which type of special purpose framework often used by not-for-profits for which conversion to U.S. GAAP would exceed the benefit
• Identify characteristics of SME's and how they apply in various scenarios
• Describe correct statements with respect to IFRS for SMEs
• Differentiate standards which provide the primary auditing resource with respect to special purpose frameworks
• Identify a potential benefit to preparing special purpose framework financial statements
• Describe modified cash basis
• Differentiate types of special purpose frameworks and how they apply

Level
Intermediate

Instructional Method
Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study
Accounting (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
General knowledge of U.S. GAAP.

Advance Preparation
None