ASC 740: Income Tax Accounting for 2013

Douglas Schwartz is the Managing Member of Douglas I. Schwartz, LLC. Certified Public Accountant, Certified Forensic Accountant and Certified in Financial Forensics with thirty years experience working for both public and private Companies mostly in the financial services industry. Recently, Douglas led the ASC 740/FIN 48 practice for a regional accounting firm in North Jersey focusing on private equity and hedge funds. He has held senior tax and financial positions with a publicly traded alternative asset manager and a privately held investment company. His ASC 740/FIN 48 includes all types of entities, domestic and foreign, IPO’s, M&A due diligence, transaction structuring and tax controversy. After graduating Emory University, Douglas joined Arthur Andersen & Co. in New York where he was a senior tax manager.

Douglas is a member of the AICPA and the NJSCPA. He is also a member of the AICPA Tax and Forensic and Valuation Services Sections and The NJSCPA Business Valuation Forensic Litigation Services Interest Group.

Mark is the director in charge of Freed Maxick CPAs, P.C. Tax Practice.

Mark is also a member of the Firm’s SEC, Manufacturing & Distribution, Financial Institutions and International Tax Practices, where he specializes in providing multinational public and private enterprises with ASC 740 outsourcing. In addition to this specialty, Mark also provides tax compliance, international tax planning, and merger and acquisition tax due diligence assistance. Mark is also a member of the Firms’ SEC assurance practice where his primary responsibility is reviewing ASC 740 for a majority of the Firm’s public company assurance clients.

Mark is well versed on bank taxation, as well as corporate and international tax, including Subpart F issues, and is proficient and knowledgeable with consolidated and multi-state returns. Mark has significant experience in handling complex investment unit tax issues, tax issues regarding hedging, stock based compensation and business combinations especially as it relates to the application to ASC740/ASC718/ASC805.

Prior to joining the Firm, Mark spent over 13 years with a “Big 4” firm where he gained significant experience with ASC 740, tax compliance, and mergers and acquisitions all while serving clients in the manufacturing as well as the financial services industry.

Due to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the SEC and PCAOB clarified that an audit firm’s independence would be impaired if the audit firm prepared tax provisions for its SEC-registered clients. As a result, SEC registered companies look elsewhere for assistance with tax provision computations, current and deferred tax asset and liability accounts, purchase accounting related to merger and acquisition/divestiture activity, as well as other related accounting topics and required disclosures under the provisions of ASC 740. Because of this trend, Mark assisted the Firm in creating a team of tax professionals who understand the complexity of the tax accounting issues relative to ASC 740. As a result, Mark has gained significant experience and vast working knowledge with respect to each of the ASC 740 tax accounting topics as follows:

• Deferred tax assets, analyze the need to record a valuation allowance
• Business combinations (acquisitions) involving purchase accounting adjustments and goodwill (both ASC 805 and ASC 810)
• Exceptions to comprehensive deferred tax accounting
• Foreign currency translations (ASC 830)
• Stock options and other stock based compensation tax windfall pool calculations (ASC 718)
• International operations, including foreign branches
• Inside vs. outside basis differences of foreign subsidiaries and the ASC 740 exceptions for earnings permanently reinvested
• Converting foreign tax computations to US GAAP
• Changes in tax laws or rates
• Hedges and derivatives (ASC 815)
• Uncertain Tax Positions (FIN 48 codified at ASC 740-10)
• Investment units associated with debt instruments
• Intraperiod tax allocations
• Interim Financial Reporting (ASC 270)
• Defined Benefit Pension & Other Post Retirement Plans (ASC 960)

Mark received his Bachelor’s degree from the University at Buffalo. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Sam is a member of the Firm’s SEC practice. He concentrates his practice in tax planning and advisory services for businesses, particularly in the areas of joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, consolidations, and financial accounting (ASC 740) for both domestic and multinational companies.

With respect to ASC 740, Sam is responsible for consultation and review of income tax provisions for both publicly and privately held companies as an auditor and in the role of an outsource service provider.

Prior to joining Freed Maxick, Sam spent over 25 years in the accounting profession with Big Four firms and private industry. While in public accounting Sam was designated as a lead individual to help implement the rules required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and PCAOB, as well as an instructor on uncertain tax positions. While in industry Sam’s primary responsibility, in addition to tax planning and IRS audit management, was to oversee and report on a publicly held company’s global ASC 740 position encompassing over 40 countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. During this time, he gained significant experience on many income tax accounting issues including:

• Interim financial reporting (ASC 270);
• Valuation allowance assessment;
• Business combinations and divestitures;
• Conversion from foreign tax reporting to GAAP;
• Equity based compensation (ASC 718);
• Hybrid instruments;
• Intraperiod tax allocations;
• Uncertain tax positions;
• Inside versus outside basis considerations;
• International tax implications (from both a GAAP and statutory tax perspective);
• Foreign currency translation (ASC 830); and,
• Financial statement presentation and disclosure

Sam also spent two years in the Washington D.C. national tax practice of a Big Four firm advising clients on tax developments in legislation, regulations, and policy. He is knowledgeable and has had considerable success in identifying tax opportunities in connection with due diligence reviews of taxpayers’ prior year tax returns and positions.

Sam received a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and a law degree from the University at Buffalo. He is licensed as a CPA in New York and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is also a member of the New York state bar.

Angela is a tax partner with Ernst & Young LLP. Angela has more than 20 years of experience serving clients in the retail, distribution, consumer products, and transportation services industries. Her primary areas of practice are corporate taxation and accounting for income taxes (FASB ASC Topic 740). Angela currently serves as the Global Ernst & Young Organization’s Americas Co-Director of Tax Accounting and Risk Advisory Services (TARAS), as a technical resource on ASC 740 matters for Ernst & Young LLP clients and partners, and as Senior Advisory Partner on a number of Fortune 100 companies in the retail/consumer products and transportation industries. Prior to taking her current role, Angela served as the Consumer Products Industry Leader for Tax for the Global Ernst & Young Organization, the Americas Consumer Products and Retail Industry Leader for the Global Ernst & Young organization, and served as the lead tax partner on several Fortune 100 clients in the Firm’s Southwest and Southeast Regions.