Assurance, risk, tax, transaction, and finance-related services for technology companies - Ernst & Young - United States

If your organization is looking to the past for ways to protect the future, your information security program is already out of date. Which measures should companies take in today’s hyper-connected, borderless world? We have identified three significant trends. Learn more about them now.

For the second consecutive quarter, we saw a pattern in which the fastest-growing companies were those leading — or responding swiftly to — disruptive innovation with the potential to reshape business models. Learn more about the latest trends for the top 100 global technology companies as well as our future outlook.

For the past three years, leading corporates focused on reducing financial risk, improving operational fitness and learning to live with volatility. As a result, our fifth Capital Confidence Barometer reveals a new paradigm: M&A activity and extreme market volatility are now co-existing. There is a surprising appetite for deals, as top global corporates remain resilient to market turbulence.

While M&A value declined in other industries, the aggregate value of global technology M&A increased 8% sequentially. It was the second consecutive quarter dominated by big-ticket deals in which established companies pursued strategic growth trends, but interestingly, PE firms contributed more than half of the deals valued above $1 billion. Learn more.

The FASB and IASB extended their target for completing priority joint projects to the second half of 2011. What does that mean for technology companies? Inside, we offer a snapshot of the major technology-specific accounting and regulatory developments that have occurred during the quarter. Tap into our insights.

Many online game operators facilitate the sale of virtual goods by incorporating a virtual currency within the game. Currently there are three different revenue recognition methods applicable to the sale of virtual goods (pdf, 126.5kb) for cash (or purchased virtual currency) in a free-to-play game environment. Use this publication to better understand them.

If you had the opportunity to improve your company’s cash flow, costs and service while maintaining flexibility, wouldn’t you take it? Well you can, simply by creating an effective working capital management strategy. Learn which steps will be instrumental in helping you benefit from this largely untapped source of liquidity.