Back in April, we highlighted Financial Literacy Month with the belief that a better understanding of finance will help people navigate this uncertain climate. With that in mind, we thought this article in Accounting Today (Financial Literacy Efforts Gain Urgency) demonstrated that momentum continues to head in the right direction.

The article points out that the 360 Degrees program, which we cited in our April post, (www.360finan­cialliteracy.org) “averages roughly 150,000 hits a month, [and] the AICPA two years ago launched its “Feed the Pig” campaign (www.feedthepig.org), an effort to help those between the ages of 24 and 35 take control of their finances.”

We fully support these types of initiatives and keep them in mind as we speak with individual clients. If you have questions or comments about financial literacy programs that may be helpful, please post them here and we will help to spread the word!

So you want to recognize revenue on your multiple element arrangement sooner?…Well, the FASB genie looks like it may actually grant that wish…but nothing comes for free…

On July 7th, the FASB released a draft abstract for public comment on EITF Issues No. 08-1, “Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables,” and No. 09-3, “Applicability of AICPA Statement of Position 97-2 to Certain Arrangements That Contain Software Elements.” Responses from interested parties on both draft abstracts were due by August 14th. Under its current form, EITF 08-1 will profoundly change the paradigm for revenue recognition on multiple element arrangements going forward (the EITF will apply prospectively for revenue arrangements entered into or materially modified in fiscal years beginning on or after June 15, 2010).

Historically, companies struggled under EITF Issue No. 00-21, “Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables” to prove that they had “vendor objective evidence” of the selling prices of each component element, so that they could recognize revenue as each element was delivered. Where that evidence was lacking, they were forced not to recognize revenue for ANY of the elements until ALL of them had been delivered. In such a scenario, the logistics of the accounting did not match the underlying economics of the related transaction.

(more…)

MFA’s Business Insights blog is growing in popularity, and we want to make the most of the insight and information we can share with you.  To give you the best delivery of this knowledge possible, we are going to step up the game with a couple of changes.

For MFA’s Business Insights readers who subscribe via email through Feedburner:

Beginning next week, subscribers will receive the upgraded version of MFA’s Business Insights, which will come from thepartners@mfa-cpa.com (you may want to add the email to your address book to avoid losing posts to spam filters). We will send you highlighted blog posts in a new format, and will have both an HTML and a text version available. If you prefer not to receive HTML, you can just click on the “Update Profile/Email Address” link at the bottom of the first issue and change your settings.  And while you are there, you can also check the “MFA Alerts & Insights”  box  to get timely tax and business alerts!

For MFA’s Business Insights readers who subscribe via RSS or visit the blog directly:

No changes are necessary! You are still welcome, however, to visit MFA’s home page and sign up for our Alerts & Insights if you are not already receiving them.

Regardless of how you receive Business Insights, we’d like to encourage more conversation in this space.  We hope you will visit and engage us directly by commenting on posts that you find interesting or that raise questions.  This will help us to understand what kind of content is most interesting to you and keep the conversation going.

Thanks as always for your readership!