GASB on Monday issued an exposure draft that proposes amendments to the requirements of Statement no. 53 to clarify what constitutes a termination event for accounting and financial reporting purposes. The amendment would allow hedge accounting to continue, if certain conditions are met, when a swap counterparty or a swap
Accounting & reporting
House Members Create Bipartisan CPA Caucus
Two members of the House of Representatives created the Bipartisan Congressional CPA Caucus with a goal of harnessing their unique professional skills to develop innovative policy approaches to issues that affect CPAs, including tax administration and compliance, and accounting and auditing standards. Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., and Michael Conaway, R-Texas,
Standards Overseer to Consider Proposal for Private Company Financial Reporting
FASB’s parent organization, the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), this month is expected to discuss a report recommending a new standard-setting board to establish exceptions and modifications to U.S. GAAP for private companies. This discussion follows the culmination of a year’s worth of work by a blue-ribbon panel, formed in December
News Highlights for February 2011
FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) released a convergence progress report that said their priority projects are on target for completion by June 2011 or earlier. (For recent JofA coverage of the FASB-IASB convergence project, see “Convergence Milestone,” Aug. 2010, page 26.) The priority projects, which were identified
Financial Reporting
New and existing accounting and financial reporting standards issued by FASB and GASB will be subject to a post-implementation review. The Board of Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), the oversight body for the two standard setters, announced a review process it described as independent of the standard- setting
FASB, IASB Address Offsetting Transactions, Impairment Models
FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) took two more steps toward convergence with the release of joint proposals that address offsetting transactions and accounting for impairment of financial assets. An exposure draft released on Friday proposes to establish a common approach to offsetting financial assets and financial liabilities
Report Recommends New Standard-Setting System, Board for Private Companies
A blue-ribbon panel on Wednesday submitted a report to FASB’s parent organization—the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF)—recommending significant changes to the future of accounting standard setting for private companies, including a separate standard-setting board. The panel concluded that “there are urgent and growing systemic issues that need to be addressed in
Compromise Reached for Financial Instruments; Revenue Recognition and Leases Less Certain
FASB Chairman Leslie Seidman said Tuesday via webcast that FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have reached a compromise on a single approach to impairment for financial instruments. She acknowledged, however, that substantial constituent feedback on the boards’ joint proposals for revenue recognition and leases reveals several major
The 20 Most Popular Stories of 2010
2010 was a busy year for regulatory reform and changes to standards that affect the practices and responsibilities of CPAs. It’s no surprise that the JofA’s readers were interested in regulatory reform over the past year, particularly the health care and Wall Street Reform bills passed in March and July,
International Greenhouse Gas Assurance Standard Proposed
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) on Tuesday released a proposed standard to provide assurance on companies’ reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, a key component in sustainability reporting. The IAASB says the proposed International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3410, Assurance Engagements on Greenhouse Gas Statements, addresses the
AICPA: Lease Proposal Fails to Address Application Issues
The AICPA’s Financial Reporting Executive Committee (FinREC) commented on FASB’s Proposed Accounting Standards Update, Leases. The exposure draft was developed jointly with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). FinREC said it supports the boards’ overall objective to develop a single approach to lease accounting and to require assets and liabilities
SEC Guidance on Disclosure Related to Climate Change
In February 2010, the SEC issued an interpretive release titled Commission Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change (Release Nos. 33-9106; 34-61469; FR-82) that provides guidance concerning disclosures related to the impact of climate change and related legislative and regulatory developments. The release provides assistance to public companies in satisfying
News Highlights for January 2011
FASB issued a discussion paper to gather input from stakeholders about the time and effort that will be involved in adapting to several anticipated new accounting and reporting standards and when those standards, which are part of the FASB and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) convergence projects, should be
Financial Reporting
FASB issued an exposure draft that contains clarifying guidance intended to improve consistency and transparency in financial reporting about troubled debt restructurings. “Investors, regulators and practitioners asked the board to clarify what types of loan modifications should be considered troubled debt restructurings for accounting and disclosure purposes,” FASB’s Acting
Seidman Named FASB Chairman
Leslie F. Seidman on Thursday was appointed chairman of FASB, effective immediately. Seidman, who had been acting chairman since the retirement of Robert H. Herz on Sept. 30, has been a FASB member since 2003. Her appointment comes as FASB deals with an unprecedented workload to complete priority convergence projects
FASB Aims for Consistency in Business Combination Pro Forma Disclosures
FASB on Wednesday issued an Accounting Standards Update (ASU) that it said should end a “diversity in practice” in the disclosure of pro forma revenue and earnings for business combinations. The ASU says that, if comparative financial statements are presented, the pro forma revenue and earnings of the combined entity
GASB Clarifies Accounting for Partnership Arrangements
GASB issued a pair of new standards last week, one that addresses how to account for and report service concession arrangements (SCAs) and another that the board said is designed to improve financial reporting for governmental entities by amending the requirements of Statement no. 14 and Statement no. 34. Statement
IASB Amends Income Tax, IFRS Adoption Rules
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on Monday issued amendments to IAS 12, Income Taxes, and what it called “narrow amendments” to IFRS 1, First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. The amendments to IAS 12 were proposed in an exposure draft in September. IAS 12 requires an entity to
Revised Rules for Goodwill Impairment, New Health Care Proposals
The most recent work of FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force resulted in a new update and two proposed updates to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC). ASC Update no. 2010-28, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): When to Perform Step 2 of the Goodwill Impairment Test for Reporting Units with Zero
AICPA: Revenue Recognition Proposal Impractical
The AICPA’s Financial Reporting Executive Committee (FinREC) this week voiced extensive concerns with a joint FASB-IASB proposed standard on revenue recognition that is intended to apply across all industry sectors. “We agree with the theoretical merit of many of the concepts included in the proposed standard,” FinREC said in its comment
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