Watchdog Transparency Blog

In our Blog we take a critical look at public company disclosures and focus on issues surrounding transparency, reliability and accuracy. It you are looking for cheerleading, you have come to the wrong place. We rely on information from the best sources available to gain insight into companies and make predictions about what will happen in the future. Nothing in business is certain, so sometimes we will be wrong, but we will always be an independent voice telling you the truth as we see it. We offer Retail Investors our Research Reports for Free.

Articles

Tesla’s Unusual Red Flag

Posted on Apr 15, 2018

A review of Tesla’s Corporate Watchdog Report reveals a striking red flag regarding management turnover, specifically in the CFO position. The Tesla red flag for CFO turnover is recent and highly unusual. Rare, in fact.

Posted in featured

Finding Red Flags in Earnings Reports after the Trump Tax Cut

Posted on Mar 21, 2018

The Tax Cut & Jobs Act law (TCJA) passed in a rush late last year is complicating how companies release their fourth quarter earnings data. The changes to the law will significantly affect earnings for most large companies, and companies took different approaches on reporting the impact.

Posted in Red Flags, featured

Red Flags in Amended 10-Ks: 2017

Posted on Mar 14, 2018

Annual reports, or 10-Ks, are known for their extensive information relating to all aspects of a company’s business. With that being said, these files leave plenty of room for missed or omitted information, misstatements, or other inadvertent errors. In such cases, the company would file an amended 10-K (more commonly referred to as a 10-K/A) in order to provide or correct the missing or incorrect information.

What are Companies Really Seeing? Revenue Growth or Accounting Adjustments?

Posted on Mar 1, 2018

A new accounting rule recently went into effect that is already changing how companies account for and report on revenue. ASC 606 or “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” standardizes and simplifies how companies record revenue in customer contracts and covers how businesses report the nature, amount, and timing regarding contracts with customers. The rule went into effect for fiscal years beginning after December 15th, 2017.

Nearly 70% of Affected Public Companies Did Not Report Cybersecurity Breaches to the SEC

Posted on Feb 27, 2018

Over 90% of the Russell 3000 companies see cybersecurity as a significant risk and provide the cyber risk disclosure in the Risk Factors section. This should come as no surprise – the number of cyber breaches for companies registered with the SEC more than doubled between 2011 and 2017, increasing from 27 in 2011 to 64 in 2017.

Early Indicators Predict an Uptick in Revenue Recognition Accounting Failures

Posted on Feb 6, 2018

We have been asked several times whether or not the adoption of the new revenue recognition standard will cause an increase in the number of restatements and control failures. While it may be early to say, our review of SEC filings provides a strong indication that we will see an uptick in revenue recognition accounting failures.