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Recently Published
30 Second Ideas
- You’ve Got Two More Days to File Your Tax Return
- 2012 Standard Mileage Rates
- Taxpayers Beware: IRS Impostor Emails
Accounting Updates
- New Consolidation Standards — Who Put the VIE in Related-Party Lease Arrangements?
- Proposed Changes to Revenue Recognition Standards — Only One Proud Standard Rather than Dozens
- Proposed Changes to Lease Accounting Standards — The Classic Cookie-Cutter Standard Is Likely to Be Retired
Alerts
- Beware: New Form 8938 - Statement of Foreign Financial Assets
- Time to Come Clean with Cook County (and Chicago too?)
- SSAP 101 Adopted
Articles
- Beware: New Form 8938 - Statement of Foreign Financial Assets
- You’ve Got Two More Days to File Your Tax Return
- 1099-MISC Requirements for Landlords
Business Surveys
- Survey of Chicago Area Business Leaders, September 2009
- Survey of Advisors to Family-Owned Businesses
- Survey of Chicago Area Business Leaders, February 2009
Construction Edge
- Managing Indirect Costs Calls for a Keen Eye ... and a Plan
- An Escalation Clause Can Help Curtail Materials Cost Woes
- Four Ways Dishonest Employees Can Steal Your Money
Healthcare Edge
- Specialty Snapshot: Home Healthcare Services
- Is Your Healthcare Entity a Personal Service Corporation?
- Small Business Health Care Tax Credit
Insurance Edge
- SSAP 101 Adopted
- Organizing Reinsurance in Receiverships and Troubled Companies
- Redefining the World of Deferred Acquisition Costs (DAC)
Legal Talent
- Varying Rates for Contract Attorneys: Caveat Emptor!
- Top 10 Reasons to Hire Temporary Help in a Down Economy
- Five Organizational Tips for Staffing a Document Review Project
Manufacturing Edge
- A Year-End Planning Checklist for Every Manufacturing Company and Distributor
- Goodwill Impairment Testing — Simplification May Be Possible
- Ten Easy Ways To Improve Your Website and Bring In More Customers
Not-for-Profit Edge
- Insights from Not-for-Profit’s Accounting and Auditing Update 2011
- Benefits of Conducting a Fraud Risk Assessment
- A Formula for Sustainable Spending
Quick Links & Good Ideas
- Quick Links and Good Ideas, January 2011
- Quick Links and Good Ideas, November 2010
- Quick Links and Good Ideas, September 2010
Strategy Insights Blog
- Measuring the Success of Your Strategy, Starts with Asking the Right Seven Questions
- Leadership Lesson from the Military: Put Away Your Iron Fist and Empower Your Troops
- The New Digital Reality: Your Brand Is No Longer in Your Own Hands
Insurance Edge
SSAP 101 Adopted
Statutory Accounting Principles Working Group Adopts SSAP 101 Income Taxes, A Replacement of SSAP No. 10R and SSAP No. 10. On August 31, 2011 the Statutory Accounting Principles Working Group adopted SSAP 101. As adopted this replacement of SSAP 10R...
read moreOrganizing Reinsurance in Receiverships and Troubled Companies
Protecting Your Largest Asset by Getting a Handle on It: A Brief Checklist It’s a dark and stormy night!! (Really) The Department of Insurance is in the midst of an examination of The ABC Troubled Company (“Troubled Company”). Among other...
read moreRedefining the World of Deferred Acquisition Costs (DAC)
No doubt you have read about and gone through the exercise of familiarizing yourself with the new fair value definitions from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Well, the FASB continues to move forward by redefining Deferred Acquisition Costs (DAC)...
read moreAccounting for Insurance Contracts — A Joint Movement to IFRS
As the insurance industry moves ever closer to an accepted set of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) - many uncertainties remain related to the nature, timing, and extent of accounting considerations for insurance contracts. Insurance companies will likely be facing...
read moreNAIC Proposes Uncertain Tax Positions
Have you recently completed your annual statement and thought to yourself, when will these footnote disclosures end?At the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) 2011 Spring Meeting held in Austin, TX, the NAIC proposed more potential disclosures in the area...
read moreFair Value Disclosure Improvements
(SSAP 100 - Fair Value Measurements - Modified)
“Fair Value” has become as common as “Google,” “Twitter,” or even “Facebook.” No matter if you’re watching your favorite business TV show or reading various business periodicals, you are sure to run across this topic. Fair value accounting and disclosures...
read moreFall NAIC Updates: Potential Changes to SSAP 100 and SVO Task Force Status
Potential Changes to SSAP 100 – Fair Value MeasurementsOn Monday, October 18, 2010, the Statutory Accounting Principles Working Group (SAPWG) discussed potential amendments to SSAP 100 – Fair Value Measurements.Recurring vs. Non-Recurring SchedulesThe focus of the amendment surrounded the elimination...
read moreInsurance Broker Acquisitions: Contingent Considerations & Commissions
If you’re considering or already in the process of acquiring an insurance broker, you’ll want to read the latest article by Brian Gore, Rebecca Nelson, and Jagesh Shah of Duff & Phelps, a national financial advisory and investment banking firm.They...
read moreFair Value Measurements: SSAP 100 versus ASC 820 (fka “FAS 157”)
[Updated: Oct.27, 2010 to reflect the NAIC's proposed disclosure changes]Fair value accounting has been a part of US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) since the early 1990s. In its relatively brief history, fair value accounting, or “mark-to-market” accounting, has racked up...
read moreSenator Dodd's Financial Reform Bill Includes Provisions for Regulation of Reinsurance and Surplus Lines
The following article summarizes the current activity surrounding possible regulation of Reinsurance and Surplus Lines Insurance as contained in Senator Dodd’s bill. In an environment where federal regulation to avoid future bail outs is the order of the day, it’s...
read morePreparing Your Organization for Risk, Threats and Opportunities: The Importance of Enterprise-Wide Risk Management (ERM) Education
This article points out how ERM can address both strategic and operational issues. While ERM is often thought of as a different way to look at risk management, the author elaborates on how ERM enhances overall decision making, improves acceptance...
read moreBenefits of Membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank System
We often read articles that are interesting, but have little practical application related to the problems our clients face. This article however, has both. For insurance companies that are experiencing cash flow issues, the following article may provide valuable assistance....
read moreRisk-Focused Exams for Reinsurance: What's Going On?
Beginning in 2010, state insurance examiners will be conducting “Risk-Focused Examinations” per the new Financial Condition Examiners Handbook. This is a revised approach to the exam as examiners will be concentrating on reviewing a company’s procedures and internal controls over...
read moreSSAP 43R-Revised Loan-Backed and Structured Securities
On September 14, 2009, the Statutory Accounting Principles Working Group adopted SSAP 43R, which provides guidance on recording other-than temporary impairments (OTTIs) on loan-backed and structured securities. The new pronouncementwill supersede SSAP 98, “Treatment of Cash Flows When Quantifying Changes...
read moreInsurance SAS 70: A Move Toward Action in Governance
In this era of heightened compliance and governance, an insurance organization’s ongoing assessment of its internal control structure and effectiveness is a critical business initiative. Many leaders within the insurance industry have concluded that setting the proper tone at the...
read moreFDIC Policy Changes Offer Insurers Added Protection
Katherine Duckworth, Vice PresidentCitibank, N.A. Commercial Business Groupkathy.duckworth@citi.com, 312-627-5024 With today’s economic conditions, everyone is worried about the safety and soundness of their financial assets. This concern has made commercial and consumer banking customers nationwide increasingly aware of the significant...
read moreCorporate Bonds: Can Default History Predict the Future?
Elizabeth Henderson, CFA Director of Corporate Credit AAM Insurance Investment Management ehenderson@aamcompany.com, 312-263-2900 The rating agencies are predicting that defaults for speculative-grade bonds will peak somewhere between 14% and 16% in 2009. Many analysts and pundits are quick to point...
read moreMaximizing Tax Benefits of P&C Insurers’ Capital Losses
Douglas J. Youngren, JD, CPA Tax Partner dyoungren@BlackmanKallick.com, 312-980-2944In a year fraught with so many losses, is there anything in the current tax code that allows realized capital losses to offset underwriting income? Can those losses be carried back to offset...
read moreACH: The New Wave of Bank Fraud
Jeffery A. Dertz, CPAPartner, Insurance Practice jdertz@BlackmanKallick.com, 312-980-3224This Blackman Kallick article was published some time ago, but it has taken on new relevance in light of the changes in the U.S. economy and the corresponding increase in online fraud. The Automated...
read moreWinning the Pricing War Against Industry Giants: Offensive Strategies for Regional Insurers
Chris Hurst Towers Perrin chris.hurst@towersperrin.com, 314-719-5846 Klayton Southwood Towers Perrin klayton.southwood@towersperrin.com, 309-828-8351 Gone are the days of pricing personal auto insurance using only "traditional" rating variables such as driver age, gender, marital status and vehicle use. More than a decade...
read moreWhat Is the Value of Financial Planning to an Insurance Enterprise?
In some respects, financial planning for an insurance company is like running a manufacturing assembly line. As long as people work ahead of themselves, things tend to go smoothly. Assembly line workers run into trouble when they try to manage...
read moreFAS 157 Changes Fair Value Definition, Measurement and Disclosure
Jeffery A. Dertz, CPAPartner, Insurance Practicejdertz@BlackmanKallick.com, 312-980-3224In September 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 157, "Fair Value Measurements" (FAS 157). This new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after Nov. 15,...
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