New agenda process seeks transparency for FASB, GASB

A more collaborative agenda-setting process for FASB and GASB was approved Tuesday by the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) board of trustees.

Decisions regarding project plans, agenda setting, and priority of projects at FASB and GASB now will be approved by a majority vote of the respective boards instead of by the board chair alone.

The trustees voted to end the previous process, which vested the chairs with the authority to make these decisions. All agenda decisions now will be voted on by the boards in public meetings.

“The trustees and the board chairs believe that submitting agenda decisions for a vote in a public setting brings greater transparency to the standard-setting process,” FAF President and CEO Terri Polley said in a news release.

Polley said the change will provide the public with more insight into the factors that are considered in agenda decisions.

In addition, the FAF trustees announced that:

• A FAF post-implementation review concluded that two GASB standards are largely functioning as intended. The trustees accepted the review report on GASB Statements No. 3, Deposits With Financial Institutions, Investments (Including Repurchase Agreements) and Reverse Repurchase Agreements, and No. 40, Deposit and Investment Risk Disclosures. The final report will be issued publicly on Thursday.
• The post-implementation team will begin its review of GASB Statements No. 10, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Risk Financing and Related Insurance Issues, and No. 30, Risk Financing Omnibus—an Amendment of GASB Statement No. 10. The standards apply to risk financing and insurance-related activities of state and local government, including risk pools.
• Marc Siegel has been reappointed to a second five-year term as a member of FASB, beginning July 1. He led the accounting research and analysis team at the RiskMetrics Group in Maryland before joining the board.

—Ken Tysiac (ktysiac@aicpa.org) is a JofA senior editor.