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FASB staff members issue implementation guidance ( www.fasb.org/q&a87.pdf ) on FASB statement no. 87, Employers’ Accounting for Pensions. The advisory addresses the impact the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act’s expiration after 2010 will have on temporary exceptions the legislation permitted to IRC section 415(b) limits on the amount of payments a qualified defined benefit plan could make to its participants.

The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) says it is closely monitoring compliance with a new law, the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001. In March the OTS provided savings institutions with guidance ( www.ots.treas.gov/docs/48896.pdf ) on complying with certain of the act’s provisions, which took effect in December, requiring financial institutions to produce—within 120 hours of regulators’ request—customer records or other documents necessary to fight money laundering.

The International Federation of Accountants issues a paper, E-Business and the Accountant: Risk Management for Accounting Systems in an E-Business Environment. The study can be downloaded at www.ifac.org/store —the group’s Web site.

The Council of Institutional Investors decides to support including the cost of stock options as an expense on businesses’ reported income statements—a reversal of its long-standing opposition to the practice ( www.cii.org/press/expensing.htm ). The group, which includes pension funds, money managers, other financial services entities and lawyers, says its new position acknowledges companies’ vastly increased use of such financial instruments to compensate employees. The council does not recommend a specific valuation formula for them. But it urges the International Accounting Standards Board, which is considering issuing standards on accounting for options, to ask corporations, institutional investors and other affected parties for input on valuing them.

The IASB’s former standing interpretations committee—now the international financial reporting interpretations committee—issues guidance ( www.iasb.org.uk/cmt/0001.asp ) on accounting for Web site costs under international accounting standards (IASs). The interpretation clarifies existing requirements of IAS 38, Intangible Assets, that apply to expenses associated with an entity’s development and operation of an Internet site. If the enterprise applies the new interpretation and recognizes the site as an intangible asset, it must amortize the operating expenses over a brief period unless that site actively serves a market and its operating costs are regularly evaluated.

Less than two weeks before its self-imposed March 31 termination, the Public Oversight Board publishes a white paper, The Road to Reform, ( www.publicoversightboard.org/White_Pa.pdf ) proposing the creation—through federal legislation—of an independent organization that would assume the board’s responsibility for voluntary private-sector regulation of the profession. Among other things, the POB recommends the new body oversee and fund FASB—by means of fees imposed on public corporations—and also have the power to set and interpret auditing and independence standards, perform comprehensive annual reviews of firms auditing more than 100 public companies each year and investigate public firms’ wrongdoing, with the authority to compel testimony and obtain documents by subpoena. To protect small businesses and their audit firms from any unintended consequences of these proposals, the paper recommends making these organizations exempt from limits on the provision of nonaudit services to audit clients.

The Social Security board of trustees, in its 2002 annual report to Congress ( www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/TR02/index.html ), says long-range program deficits remain although the short-term outlook has improved. According to the report, tax revenue will fall below program costs in 2017—one year later than the board estimated in 2001. The board says it expects the trust funds to run out of money in 2041—three years later than last estimated. At that point, it says, payroll taxes will fund only 73% of Social Security benefit obligations, with bleaker prospects likely in the late 21st century.

Giovanni P. Prezioso replaces David M. Becker as the SEC’s general counsel. Coming from the Washington office of international law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, Prezioso has extensive experience in securities-related legal matters. Becker resigned to return to private practice after serving as the commission’s chief legal officer since 1999. ( www.sec.gov/news/press/2002-51.txt )

The International Federation of Accountants names the 18 members of its new International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, which replaces the International Auditing Practices Committee. The board includes three Americans—John L. Archambault, Richard Dieter and Edmund R. Noonan. ( www.ifac.org/News/LastestReleases.tmpl?NID=101681188625070 )

The Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget release the fiscal year 2001 Financial Report of the U.S. Government. The GAO was unable to express an opinion on the reliability of this year’s statements, primarily because of financial management deficiencies at the Department of Defense and the impossibility of tracking transactions between government entities. To improve the accuracy and timeliness of federal financial reports, the White House proposes accelerating delivery of audited statements, requiring quarterly and comparative reporting and integrating government entities’ performance and financial information. ( http://fms.treas.gov/cfs/01frusg/01frusg.pdf )

The 16th World Congress of Accountants will take place in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre November 18–21, 2002 ( www.wcoa2002.com ). The Hong Kong Society of Accountants and the International Federation of Accountants are jointly organizing the gathering, which they expect will attract accounting and business leaders from around the world.