The Vest Pocket Guide to GAAP

The Vest Pocket Guide to GAAP is the handy pocket problem-solver that gives today's busy financial executives the GAAP advice they need in a quick-reference format.

Whether in public practice or private industry, professionals will always have this reliable reference tool at their fingertips because it easily goes anywhere-to a client's office, on a business trip, or to an important lunch meeting.

• Provides succinct answers to common GAAP questions
• Easy-to-use Q & A format offers hundreds of explanations supported by a multitude of examples, tables, charts, and ratios
• Other titles by Bragg: Running an Effective Investor Relations Department: A Comprehensive Guide, Accounting Best Practices, Sixth Edition, and Just-in-Time Accounting, Third Edition

Convenient and comprehensive, The Vest Pocket Guide to GAAP is the handy reference you'll turn to again and again for quick answers to your GAAP questions.

About the Author vii

What This Book Will Do for You ix

Part I The Financial Statements 1

One Financial Statements Presentation 3

Two Operating Segments 27

Three Earnings per Share 37

Four Interim Financial Reporting 49

Five Related Party Disclosures 59

Six Subsequent Events 63

Part II Assets, Liabilities, and Equity 67

Seven Receivables 69

Eight Investments–Debt and Equity Securities 79

Nine Investments–Equity Method and Cost Method 91

Ten Inventory 99

Eleven Other Assets and Deferred Costs 111

Twelve Property, Plant, and Equipment 119

Thirteen Intangible Assets 133

Fourteen Asset Retirement and Environmental Obligations 151

Fifteen Contingencies 163

Sixteen Debt 167

Seventeen Equity 183

Part III Revenue and Expenses 193

Eighteen Revenue Recognition 195

Nineteen Employee Benefits and Benefit Plans 217

Twenty Stock Compensation 235

Twenty-One Other Expenses 257

Twenty-Two Research and Development Expenses 265

Twenty-Three Income Taxes 269

Part IV Special Transactions 289

Twenty-Four Accounting Changes and Error Corrections 291

Twenty-Five Business Combinations 299

Twenty-Six Derivatives 315

Twenty-Seven Fair Value 329

Twenty-Eight Foreign Currency Matters 341

Twenty-Nine Interest 353

Thirty Leases 363

Thirty-One Nonmonetary Transactions 385

Thirty-Two Not-for-Profit Entities 393

Index 411

STEVEN M. BRAGG,??CPA, has been the chief financial officer or controller of four companies, as well as a consulting manager at Ernst & Young and auditor at Deloitte. He is the author of over forty books primarily targeted toward controllers and their needs.?? Bragg received a master's degree in finance from Bentley College, an MBA from Babson College, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Maine.??

Includes:

• Shows when to use fair value
• Public company accounting requirements
• Covers foreign exchange accounting
• Industry-specific GAAP guidance
• Covers all major standards
• Hundreds of supporting examples

Get quick answers to all your GAAP questions

Presenting a question and answer format for the most common accounting problems arising from specific generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) topics, The Vest Pocket Guide to GAAP provides complete, easy-to-navigate coverage with concise explanations and hundreds of supporting examples.

This reliable reference goes anywhere you go—to a client's office, on a business trip, or to an important lunch meeting, with helpful tools, including:

• Calculations
• Journal entries
• Flowcharts outlining various options
• Footnote disclosures
• Brief examples
• And much more!

Packed with practical techniques and rules of thumb for understanding the day-to-day GAAP issues every accountant, controller, or CFO is sure to face, The Vest Pocket Guide to GAAP is the handy pocket problem solver that gives you the helpful information you want right now, in the quick-reference format you need.