Office of the Chief Accountant
The Office of the Chief Accountant is responsible for establishing and enforcing accounting and auditing policy to enhance the transparency and relevancy of financial reporting, and for improving the professional performance of public company auditors in order to ensure that financial statements used for investment decisions are presented fairly and have credibility.
To accomplish OCA"s stated mission, the office is divided primarily into three major groups; Accounting, Professional Practice and International Affairs. These three groups work collaboratively to serve as the principal adviser to the Commission on accounting and auditing matters.
Selecting a Web-based tax research service is not a simple task. Commercial publishers offer a variety of premium and economy plans that can be bundled and priced in many ways. The variations make the selection process especially difficult. Although the basic pricing and services of the products are similar, it’s the extras—such as level of service, degree of customization and ease of access—that differentiate them.
This article is designed to help tax professionals wade through the product details to find the service that best suits their needs and budget (see Exhibits 1 and 2).
GO FOR THE WEB
The two obvious advantages of a Web-based service over a paper-based or noncommercial Internet resource are the ability to easily toggle between primary and secondary sources through hypertext links and to use keywords to simultaneously search sources.
For practitioners who prefer more traditional research methods, most Web-based products also permit searches by citation, table of contents or topical index. A Web-based service also provides daily updates of primary and secondary sources and enables access to the data from any computer with an Internet connection. In addition, the user no longer needs to continuously update a large paper library.
The tax research services listed in this article include Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), Commerce Clearing House (CCH), Research Institute of America (RIA), LexisNexis, Tax Analysts and Kleinrock. All provide access to primary tax law sources (Internal Revenue Code, Treasury regulations, rulings and cases).
One key characteristic that differentiates these services is how they package tax law and analyses—either as an annotated or a topical service. Although the distinction between the two methods was important in a paper environment, now, with the advent of keyword searches, it’s less significant. Several research providers (CCH, RIA and Kleinrock) include annotated services in which editorial explanations and analyses are arranged chronologically by IRC section number. All providers offer services that arrange editorial materials by topic.
Financial Statements: Introduction
The aim of this tutorial is to answer these questions by providing a succinct yet advanced overview of financial statements analysis. If you already have a grasp of the definition of the balance sheet and the structure of an income statement, this tutorial will give you a deeper understanding of how to analyze these reports and how to identify the "red flags" and "gold nuggets" of a company. In other words, it will teach you the important factors that make or break an investment decision. |
CONTENT AND ACCESS
Accessibility is the most significant difference among all of the research services. A user’s ease of access to content and the Web site’s “feel” while performing search queries are important considerations to users, which is why potential subscribers should take advantage of the vendors’ free trial offers.
Each research service has a main menu separating the primary legal sources from the secondary sources. Each product looks and works differently. For example, the Boolean connectors used for performing a keyword search vary by service.
Listed below are the major differences in editorial content, search method capability, platform layout and appearance:
A balance sheet is a snapshot of a business’ financial condition at a specific moment in time, usually at the close of an accounting period. A balance sheet comprises assets, liabilities, and owners’ or stockholders’ equity. Assets and liabilities are divided into short- and long-term obligations including cash accounts such as checking, money market, or government securities. At any given time, assets must equal liabilities plus owners’ equity. An asset is anything the business owns that has monetary value. Liabilities are the claims of creditors against the assets of the business.
What is a balance sheet used for?
A balance sheet helps a small business owner quickly get a handle on the financial strength and capabilities of the business. Is the business in a position to expand? Can the business easily handle the normal financial ebbs and flows of revenues and expenses? Or should the business take immediate steps to bolster cash reserves?
Balance sheets can identify and analyze trends, particularly in the area of receivables and payables. Is the receivables cycle lengthening? Can receivables be collected more aggressively? Is some debt uncollectable? Has the business been slowing down payables to forestall an inevitable cash shortage?
Balance sheets, along with income statements, are the most basic elements in providing financial reporting to potential lenders such as banks, investors, and vendors who are considering how much credit to grant the firm.
1. Assets
Assets are subdivided into current and long-term assets to reflect the ease of liquidating each asset. Cash, for obvious reasons, is considered the most liquid of all assets. Long-term assets, such as real estate or machinery, are less likely to sell overnight or have the capability of being quickly converted into a current asset such as cash.
2. Current assets
Current assets are any assets that can be easily converted into cash within one calendar year. Examples of current assets would be checking or money market accounts, accounts receivable, and notes receivable that are due within one year’s time.
