Dispatches From FEI 2019 Conference
Financial Executives International is hosting its annual Corporate Financial Reporting Insights conference in New York this week, a who’s who of financial reporting regulators, executives, and other thought leaders. Radical Compliance couldn’t attend FEI in person this year, so as usual, we’ve collected a bundle of dispatches from social media to call out interesting points made and issues raised.
Translation: The audit firms are giving us too much grief about failing them on actual accounting rules.
PCAOB member Duane DesParte says at FEI CFRI conference they don’t want to just be known as the gotcha folks. They’re going to focus more on quality control systems. #FEICFRI2019 pic.twitter.com/FIo4gCmxgd
— Michael Cohn (@MikeCohnAT) November 11, 2019
I don’t dispute the premise below. My question: What about fundamental security? You can exploit holes in ERP systems to jeopardize transactions, which blockchain might be able to prevent. Second point: this suggests blockchain will be adopted first for those things ERP systems can’t do.
Pfizer tested a blockchain for intracompany transactions and “it worked fine,” but so does its existing ERP system, Cangialosi says #FEICFRI2019
— Amanda Iacone (@Aiacone) November 11, 2019
Good, because reconciliations, invoices, and forecasting are where a lot of mistakes happen.
The three most promising areas for #automation in the #financefunction are reconciliations, invoice processing and forecasting, says James Lee, Executive Director of Financial Analysis at #JPMorganChase #FEICFRI2019 pic.twitter.com/BKtlt9bNBW
— FEI’s Corporate Financial Reporting Insights Conf. (@FEIcfri) November 11, 2019
Begs the question: If we have (shudder) a second term of the Trump Administration, will the SEC take a new stab at allowing filings in IFRS? Think about it.
On convergence of #accountingstandards with the #IASB, #FASB‘s Russ Golden says “I don’t think we will have joint projects in the future, but we are committed to sharing thoughts and sharing ideas.” #FEICFRI2019
— FEI’s Corporate Financial Reporting Insights Conf. (@FEIcfri) November 11, 2019
I’m sure the anti-SOX people will love this.
Kyle Moffatt, chief accountant of SEC Division of Corporation Finance, says at #FEICFRI2019 that the SEC is realigning the division, consolidating the number of offices from 11 to 7 because the number of public companies has declined so much since SOX. pic.twitter.com/ITSceqStiF
— Michael Cohn (@MikeCohnAT) November 12, 2019
So if you’re the one who reviews disclosures of Interactive Corp., which owns Tinder…
SEC’s Kyle Moffatt on disclosure reviews and understanding the business: we do download your apps and try to understand what you’re offering your customers, including incentives #FEICFRI2019
— Amanda Iacone (@Aiacone) November 12, 2019
This gels with what I’ve seen elsewhere about robotic process automation.
Bradley Niedsielski, a partner with Deloitte, is talking about robotic process automation at #FEICFRI2019 He says that for clients, the main goal for RPA is not to eliminate employees. It’s a growth strategy to fill the talent gap. pic.twitter.com/bhDLnlPBfu
— Michael Cohn (@MikeCohnAT) November 12, 2019
You can find many more tweets, pithy and useful or otherwise, with the hashtag #FEICFRI2019. Thank you to FEI for hosting the event, and Radical Compliance promises to follow all the issues raised here throughout 2020 and beyond.