The straight line

If an employee accuses your company of discrimination and takes you to court, the ensuing battle could take years and cost thousands of dollars. When it’s all over, neither side may have much to show for it. That’s why it’s a good idea to ask employees to agree in advance to binding arbitration if such a...

Have you seen the Chevrolet commercial where the boss tells a group of employees to “take a knee, team?” One young man drops into a quarterback kneel and the boss asks, “What’s he doing?” With the rest of the group looking confused, the employee responds, “You said ‘take a knee.” The boss responds: “That’s what that means?”...

Corporate cybercrime has been in the news a number of times in the past couple of years.  Recently, Scoular Company was taken for $17.2 million in an international email swindle to a bank in China.  In addition, Target, P.F.Chang’s, Neiman Marcus and JPMorgan Chase, to name a few, all have fallen victim to computer hacking. ...

   Extraordinary Items                 All references to Extraordinary Items will no longer be segregated on the Income Statement.  An event was considered extraordinary if it was both unusual and infrequent.  This change allows for early adoption, and retrospective application.    Business Combinations – Intangibles                 Non-public companies are no longer required to recognize intangible assets...

With the recent drop in commodity prices, one topic that always seems to be part of the discussion is credit risk.  Credit risk refers to the risk that a borrower will default on any type of debt by failing to make the required payments.  This risk includes potential lost principal and interest, disruption to cash...

Many of our governmental clients have been issuing crossover refunding obligations to take advantage of lower interest rates.  While this is an advantage to the governments, it is important the transactions are properly accounted for. With a crossover refunding, the original debt is still outstanding and is not callable until a later date.  The governmental...