Accounting Law Commons^™

Virtual Intermediaries: Consumption Tax Problems In Japan, Europe, And The United States - The Case Of The Virtual Travel Agent, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Marketplace technology is (inadvertently) chipping away at the effectiveness of consumption taxes – the Japanese Consumption Tax (CT), the European value added tax (VAT), and the American sales tax (ST) are all affected. Frequently a technology-patch or a law change can repair the tax-damage, but sometimes even though a patch or a change is known the design of the levy (or the politics behind the design) impedes application. This paper assesses these consumption taxes by considering the impact that virtual travel agents have had on revenue yields. The paper draws specific conclusions for the Japanese CT, because this consumption tax …

Placebo Ethics, Usha Rodrigues, Mike Stegemoller

Scholarly Works

While there are innumerable theories on the best remedy for the current financial crisis, there is agreement on one point, at least: increased transparency is good. We look at a provision from the last round of financial regulation, the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), which imposed disclosure requirements tailored to prevent some of the kinds of abuses that led to the downfall of Enron. In response to Enron's self-dealing transactions, Section 406 of SOX required a public company to disclose its code of ethics and to disclose immediately any waivers from that code the company grants to its top …

Zappers - Retail Vat Fraud, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Zappers skim cash sales at retail. Zappers are add-on programs used by merchants with electronic cash registers (ECRs) or point-of-sale (POS) systems. Zappers are smart and selective. They do not skim all sales, and they never skim credit card transactions.

Although they are present in every jurisdiction, Zappers appear to be most widely used in developed economies that combine high levels of cash sales with high rates of consumption tax. Sweden, for example, has a cash-intensive economy, one of the world’s highest VAT rates (25%), and also reports that 70% of the ECRs in the country are either “… constructed …

Derecho De La Seguridad Social En México, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Breve presentación del Derecho de la Segurida Social en México.

¿Qué es?

¿Cómo funciona?

¿Su aplicación?

Court Of Federal Claims Upholds Additional Sui Credit, Danny A. Pannese

WCBT Faculty Publications

The article discusses the decision in a tax court case that plaintiffs in consolidated tax refund cases were entitled to an additional state unemployment insurance (SUI) credit against their Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) tax liabilities for years 1991-1996. The dispute in the tax court case of E.P. Talent Services LP was addressed in a year 2004 Court of Federal Claims decision. It was ruled that the SUI credit is capped at over five percent of the taxpayer's total FUTA wage base.

The Implications Of Ifrs On The Functioning Of The Securities Antifraud Regime In The United States, Lance J. Phillips

Michigan Law Review

The United States is home to one of the most investor-friendly securities antifraud regimes in the world. Corporate misstatements that form the basis for a cause of action under one of the many antifraud provisions arise in a variety of contexts, an important one being as violations of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). For several years, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been considering changing the standardized accounting practice in the United States from GAAP to International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") to promote comparability between global investment opportunities. IFRS is a principles-based system of accounting, while GAAP is rules …

Quebec's Sales Recording Module (Srm): Fighting The Zapper, Phantomware, And Tax Fraud With Technology, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Lawyers Keep Out: Why Attorneys Should Not Participate In Negotiating Critical Financial Numbers Reported By Public Company Clients, William O. Fisher

Law Faculty Publications

In response to the financial scandals at the turn of the century, Sarbanes-Oxley and related reforms radically changed the relationship between accountants and the companies they audit. As a result, auditors exert greater power in the negotiations with management that produce critical numbers in company financial statements. That power provides auditors with newfound ability to resist pressure to certify financial statements that are overly favorable to company stock prices. With the best of intentions, some now urge that company attorneys should expand their efforts to police clients’ financial statements. But the introduction of lawyers into the bargaining between management and …

Tax Fraud In The Sales Tax: Zappers -- What Are They? How Can Puerto Rico Block Them?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

The Sales and Use Tax is an essential part of Puerto Rico’s revenue profile. Effective only recently (November 15, 2006) the Impuesto a las Ventas y Uso (IVU) was expected to raise between $2.3 and $1.05 billion annually, and has already become the Commonwealth’s fourth largest revenue source. Actual revenue results for 2007-2008 came in at $1.1 billion, which admittedly is closer to the low end than the high end of what is possible, but now that the tax is in place the next pressing question is how can its performance be improved?

This paper generally proposes that Puerto Rico …

Heedless Globalism: The Sec's Roadmap To Accounting Convergence, William W. Bratton

All Faculty Scholarship

The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced a "Roadmap" that describes a process leading to mandatory use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by domestic issuers by 2014. The SEC justifies this initiative on the grounds that global standardization yields cost savings and an ultimate gain in comparability, facilitating the search for global opportunities by u.s. investors and making u.s. capital markets more attractive to foreign issuers. This Article shows that the offered justification is inadequate. The SEC frames the matter as a choice between two institutional frameworks for standard setting, holding out high quality sets of standards, asking which …

A Proposal For An Elective Tax Benefits Transfer System, Ronald W. Blasi

Faculty Publications By Year

This article proposes an elective tax benefit transfer system to be available to lessors of property they use in their trade or business. It describes why the current linkage of tax benefits to property ownership is economically inefficient, causing it to have several significant disadvantages to the parties and to the economy, as a whole. The article discusses how the current system reduces a firm’s cash flow and reported earnings, diminishes the intended effect of tax incentive legislation, distorts competition and decision making, and inhibits investment in efficient business assets. It is submitted that the proposed system corrects all of …

Backdated Stock Options Ownership Impact On The Corporation, Management, & Shareholders, Karen Cascini, Alan Delfavero

WCBT Faculty Publications

In the post-Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOx) world, there has been an unprecedented crackdown on fraudulent activity occurring within corporate America. During recent years, many companies have granted stock options to their executives and employees as part of compensation packages. While the issuance of stock options as a component of compensation is considered to be a legal practice, corruption has taken this corporate resource to unlawful heights. Recently, numerous corporations have been in the news for potentially backdating stock options. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to distinguish between legal and illegal aspects of backdating stock options, and to examine the …

An Examination Of The Government Accounting Standards Board, Christopher D. Jones

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the Government Accounting Standards Board by considering its history, current structure, and treatment of a current accounting standards debate. It then uses this examination to make recommendations as to reforms of the GASB and government accounting.

Fiduciary Accounting : Principles, Modern Applications, Illustrations, Katheleen Guzman, Mark Gillett, Kelly Bruns

Katheleen R. Guzman

No abstract provided.