CPA Terms Flashcards
US GAAP Acronym
United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
What is GAAP
Merely a collection of commonly-followed accounting rules and standards for financial reporting. This ensures transparency and uniformity in financial reporting across organizations in each industry. Following GAAP doesn’t guarantee transparency or lack of errors and omissions intended to mislead investors
US SEC Acronym
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
IFRS Acronym
International Financial Reporting Standards. The SEC plans to transition to IFRS from GAAP. This is a London based set of accounting principles, used by more than 100 countries
FASB Acronym
Financial Accounting Standards Board
FASAC Acronym
Financial Accounting Standards Board Advisory Council
What does FASAC do?
Advises the FASB on the rules they set for GAAP
What does FASAC do?
Advises the FASB on the rules they set for GAAP
GASB Acronym
Government Accounting Standards Board
What does GASB do?
Establishes and manages the standards that the government follows
What is Canada’s version of FASB called?
CICA - Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
IASB Acronym
International Accounting Standards Board
What does IASB do?
Administers IFRS
Why is the convergence of GAAP and IFRS encouraged?
Investors are increasingly making their investment decisions from a global standpoint. All countries conforming to the same methods of accounting, auditing and other business practices will allow for optimal comprehension, clarity and consistency
What is the SEC tool that allows investors to compare companies in different countries on an apples-to-apples basis and find material differences?
The SEC reconciliation requirement
What is the SEC tool that allows investors to compare companies in different countries on an apples-to-apples basis and find material differences?
The SEC reconciliation requirement which reconciles IFRS to US GAAP
AUD, BEC, FAR, REG
The four sections of the CPA exam
AUD (of the CPA exam)
Accounting and Auditing
FAR (of the CPA exam)
Financial Accounting and Reporting
REG (of the CPA exam)
Regulation
BEC (of the CPA exam)
Business Environment and Concepts
caveat
a warning against certain acts
ascertain
make sure by making an inquiry or other effort
corroborate
providing evidence that establishes confirmation and removes doubt which makes something an indisputable fact
defalcation
theft, misuse or misappropriation of funds by a person trusted with its charge. a form of embezzlement, either through the misallocation of funds or the failure to account for received funds
embezzlement
theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one’s trust or belonging to one’s employer
The Internal Revenue Service usually performs which type of audit?
compliance audits
An auditor’s primary consideration regarding an entity’s internal control structure policies and procedures is whether the policies and procedure
Affect the financial statements
A person identified as an audit committee financial expert of an issuer generally must have acquired the attributes of a financial expert through any of the following experiences, except
??
An auditor finds several errors in the financial statements that the client prefers not to correct. The auditor determines that the errors are not material in the aggregate. Which of the following actions by the auditor is most appropriate?
Document the errors in the summary of uncorrected errors, and document the conclusion that the errors do not cause the financial statements to be misstated.
The understanding with the client regarding a financial statement audit generally includes which of the following matters?
The responsibilities of the auditor. The understanding between the client and auditor must be established through the engagement letter in the client-acceptance phase of the audit
Noncompliance refers to
illegal acts
issuer
legal entity that develops, registers and sells securities to finance its operations
security
tradable/negotiable financial asset/instrument of any kind issued by a business entity or government. it gives the buyer the right to either interest payments or a share of the earnings of the issuer
example of security
bank notes bonds debentures common stocks options warrants
option
a financial instrument that gives its holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell something at a predefined price within a designated date range. if the holder decides not to exercise the instrument by the end of the designated date range, it expires
what are the 2 types of options?q
call option & put option
call option
the holder has a right to buy something from the other party to the option
put option
the holder has a right to sell something to the other party to the option
collateral
an asset or group of assets that a borrower or guarantor has pledged as security for a loan. the lender has the legal right to seize and sell the asset(s) if the borrower is unable to pay back the loan by the agreed date