Accounting research 2800 to 3000 word .

focus on the revenue recognition issue is because this is the largest area in financial statement fraud (~80% of all fraud dollars takes place here). And now we have moved from the SEC SABs general guidance (101, 104) and FASB standards, to the FASB codification standards: ASC 605 and 606. All of IFRS is about 2700 pages. Previous to the FASB codification, the FASB standards for revenue recognition alone approximated 2700 pages. That is, just the revenue recognition standards in FASB prior to the codification, equaled all of IFRS. The noise here under GAAP was there were to many industry specific methods to recognize revenue - hence so many pages of standards. This drove the IASB and FASB to develop a common single standard (a converged standard) for revenue recognition. But what we have seen recently emanating from the FASB is industry specific revenue recognition standards under the single converged umbrella standard. The French have a saying that when translated to English is: "The more things change, the more they remain the same!" Is this what we are seeing here with the FASB single standard morphing back into numerous industry standards? Was all this work for naught? Is there a real benefit? Please also consider the issues with implementing the new revenue standards. As the SEC requires 3 years' income statements in the filing with it (10Ks, Qs, etc.), companies moving to the new standard actually need four years data prepared under the 'same' standards - this is because the opening balances in the third year back's financial statements, represent the closing balances in the fourth year back's numbers. So you can imagine with next year approaching soon, when ASC 606 kicks in, if companies have not already commenced work on meeting the new standards, how much work will need to be done in a relatively short period of time. And remember, when passing this new revenue recognition standard, the FASB forgot to check/coordinate with the IRS. The IRS does not have to follow FASB standards. Hence there are uncertainties between existing tax law and the new recognition standard on what taxable income might be. When you think about revenue recognition, please also always keep in mind the numerous ways we have to ferret out F/S fraud that we covered in our collaborate session. Please also remember to use: [login to view URL] as a research source for researching revenue recognition issues.