Howard B. Levy, CPA
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​Publications

Howard B. Levy​, CPA has authored (or co-authored) numerous articles on accounting and auditing topics over the years for The CPA Journal, a prestigious publication of the New York State Society of CPAs that reaches over 200,000 professionals each month, either online or in print. In 2016 and again in 2018, his articles won one of the Journal's coveted Max Block Awards for Outstanding Article.

His 
published articles can be accessed online and downloaded​ using the following links.

Articles:


  • Government Accounting and Auditing: Clearing a Cloud of Confusion (March-April 2022)
  • ​To Confirm or not to Confirm—Risk Assessment is the Answer: The Wise and Proper Use of Bank Confirmations (co-authored with L. Ralph Piercy) (December 2021)
  • Not-for-Profits and the Pandemic (May 2021)
  • History of the Auditing World, Part 1 (October/November 2020)
  • Preparing for Peer Review in a Pandemic: Tailoring Internal Quality Control Inspections for New Risks (August 2020)
  • Financial Reporting and Auditing Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Practical Guidance (May 2020)
  • The Essence of Effective Analytical Procedures (October 2019)
  • Selecting Modified Retrospective Transition for Adopting ASC 606 and Related Standards: Minimum Disclosure Requirements and Management Options (co-authored with Ron Kral) (September 2019)
  • Modifications to Audit Reports that Do Not Affect the Audit Opinion (August 2019)
  • Liquidation Basis Accounting and Reporting (July 2019) Reprinted (in part) online by Kral Ussery LLC, with permission, in Governance Issues (January 28, 2021)
  • The Truth about Workpaper Sign-offs (April 2019)
  • Can Privately Held and Government Entities Present Condensed Interim Financial Information? (February 2019)
  • Recent SEC Disclosure Simplification Rules Adopted (November 2018)
  • Disclosure of Pending Accounting Changes (November 2018)
  • Maintaining Auditor Independence When Giving Accounting Assistance and Advice (October 2018)
  • ‘Net Realizable Value’ Is the New ‘Market’ (June 2018)
  • Reporting on Audits Conducted Under Dual Standards (May 2018)
  • Reissuing an Audit Report on Comparative Financial Statements after an Auditor Change (April 2018)
  • Overcoming Disclosure Overload and Achieving Greater Disclosure Effectiveness: A Status Report (March 2018)
  • The Audit Report Returns to Its Roots: An Historical Perspective on Critical Audit Matters (February 2018)
  • A Proper Risk-Based Approach to the Search for Unrecorded Liabilities (November 2017)
  • How to Report Internal Control Deficiencies (October 2017)
  • How Many Engagement Inspections Is Too Many? Streamlining the Scope of Quality Control Inspections (August 2017)
  • Redeeming Value of Social Media: How the Ice Bucket Challenge Invigorated the ALS Association (August 2017)
  • Has the DOL Pushed the ASB Too Far? Push Back—Now! (August 2017)
  • Distinguishing Agreed-Upon Procedures from Consulting Engagements and Reports (July 2017)
  • Use of ‘Composite’ (or ‘Group’) versus ‘Component’ and ‘Unit’ Depreciation (June 2017)
  • Reporting on Restatement Adjustments after an Auditor Change (May 2017)
  • The Costs of Running Employee Benefit Plans: A Flaw in FASB’s Standards (March 2017)
  • The Other Expectations Gap in Auditing: Is the Profession Attracting the Right People to Meet its Intellectual Challenges? (February 2017)
  • Auditing Fair Value and Other Accounting Estimates (February 2017)
  • Has the SEC Awakened a Sleeping Giant? The Familiarity Threat to Auditor Independence (January 2017)
  • Searching for Buried Treasure: The Elusive Completeness Assertion for Revenue (November 2016)
  • Searching for Buried Treasure: The Elusive Completeness Assertion for Revenue, Part 2 (December 2016)
  • Fighting Fraud—and Serving Famous Frankfurters—for Over a Century: The Story of Old-Fashioned Controls at Nathan’s Famous (October 2016)
  • Depreciable Asset Lives: The Forgotten Estimate in GAAP (September 2016)
  • The Materiality Mystery: The Gap in GAAS (co-authored with Julian Jacoby) (July 2016)
  • Old Habits Are Hard to Break: The Expectation Gap and the Case against Careless Use of Outdated Language (May 2016)
  • What Auditors Need to Know about SOX Section 404(a) Reports: Hidden Risks and Responsibilities (February 2016)
  • Unsolved Problems in Auditing: A Half-Century Retrospective and Update (February 2016)

    The following pre-2016 links are to archival preview pages that require a NYSSCPA
    membership or subscriber login, or you may write to the author, for access to the full text:

​
  • Regulating Audit Committees:  Isn't It Time for the SEC to Step Up to the Plate? (December 2015)
  • Putting the Decades-Long ‘Plain Paper’ Debate to Rest: Will SSARS 21 Be the Final Resolution? (November 2015)
  • A Fresh Look at Fraud Risk (October 2015)
  • Finding the Forest Among the Trees: Overcoming Overload and Achieving Greater Disclosure Effectiveness (July 2015)
  • Was GAAP Ever ‘Generally Accepted’? (May 2015)
  • Audit Documentation: A Whole New World (June 2005)

    Some of the foregoing articles were also reprinted with permission by the Nevada State
    Society of CPAs in The Silver State CPA (online access to content available to members
    only)
.


Letters to the editor:


  • Criticizing Government Accounting (December 2020-January 2021)
  • Another Call for Less Onerous CPA Licensing Regulation (February 2017)
  • Debating Inventory Valuation (March 2013)

Book:

In addition, Howard is the author of The Volunteer Treasurer's Handbook: Financial Management Building Blocks for Not-for-Profit Organizations
(2020 edition available to be previewed or purchased ​on Amazon.com). 


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