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October 5, 2009

XBRL Functionality Added to FASB Codification

FASB on Monday announced that it has added new XBRL functionality to its Accounting Standards Codification Web site. “The new XBRL functionality provided by the Codification Web site will help entities as they prepare or plan to prepare XBRL financial statements using the U.S. Financial Reporting Taxonomy,” said FASB Chairman

October 2, 2009

Small Public Companies Have Six More Months to Meet SOX Internal Controls Requirement

The SEC on Friday announced that the smallest public companies have six more months to provide audited assessments on the effectiveness of their internal control over financial reporting. Under section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, public companies and their independent auditors are each required to report to the public on

October 1, 2009

Canada Finalizes Private Company Accounting Standards

The Canadian Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) on Wednesday approved final accounting standards for private enterprises. The new standards will be issued by the end of the year and will be available for 2009 reporting for entities that choose to adopt them early, according to an AcSB press release. The private

October 1, 2009

Deal With It

A recent Deloitte poll found that an increasing number of executives are rethinking their deal strategy in light of FASB ASC 805, Business Combinations, formerly Statement no. 141(R). Of executives polled, 44.3% said they are rethinking their strategy or that the standard would otherwise affect their deal strategy or planned

October 1, 2009

Story on Business Combinations Standard Wins Best Article Award

Paul B.W. Miller, Paul R. Bahnson and Brian P. McAllister received the Journal of Accountancy’s Lawler Award for the best article of 2008. Their article, “A New Day for Business Combinations” (June 08, page 34), discussed the former FASB Statement no. 141(R)— now codified as ASC 805—which focuses on overhauling

October 1, 2009

Employee Benefits

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) provided transition relief for plan administrators of 403(b) plans who make a good faith effort to comply with applicable annual reporting requirements for the 2009 plan year. The guidance in the EBSA’s Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) no. 2009-02 allows 403(b)

October 1, 2009

Highlights

The AICPA released a set of FAQs and a comment letter relating to a FASB discussion paper on a potential new approach to lease accounting. The March 19, 2009, discussion paper, Leases: Preliminary Views, was issued jointly with the International Accounting Standards Board and responds to concerns raised by

October 1, 2009

Financial Reporting

FASB introduced a project intended to make financial statement disclosures more useful, organized and consistent, and less redundant. It will focus on developing a framework for improved GAAP disclosures. The project will evaluate and address whether the disclosure framework should: apply to all entities or exclude private or nonprofit entities;

October 1, 2009

Interpreting IFRS

With the increasing acceptance of IFRS in the global economy and its possible adoption in the U.S., CPAs are keenly interested in developing a broader understanding of international standards. A major goal of both the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the SEC is for IFRS to be consistently and

September 30, 2009

FASAB Issues Fiscal Sustainability Disclosure Requirements

The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) issued a standard that furthers one of the standard setter’s federal financial reporting objectives—the stewardship objective—by enabling readers to determine whether future budgetary resources will sufficiently sustain public services and meet obligations as they come due. Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS)

September 27, 2009

G-20: Achieve Single Set of Global Accounting Standards by June 2011

In an agreement reached Friday to make dozens of changes to the regulation of financial markets, systems and institutions, the leaders of the G-20 called on “international accounting bodies to redouble their efforts to achieve a single set of high quality, global accounting standards within the context of their independent

September 24, 2009

FASB Allows Early Adoption of Key Provisions of New Revenue Recognition Approach

FASB on Wednesday brought U.S. GAAP closer to the approach FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have outlined in their preliminary views documents for their joint revenue recognition project that is scheduled for completion in 2011. At its board meeting, FASB ratified the consensus approach reached at the

September 23, 2009

Accounting Educators Say U.S. at Disadvantage Without IFRS

Nearly half of accounting faculty at U.S. universities believe the United States should transition to IFRS to remain competitive, and three-quarters think IFRS needs to be immediately incorporated into their school’s curricula, according to a survey conducted by the American Accounting Association (AAA) and KPMG LLP. The second annual KPMG-AAA

September 4, 2009

FASAB Committee’s Proposals Intended to Clarify Accounting for Asbestos Cleanup Costs

The Accounting and Auditing Policy Committee (AAPC), a permanent committee of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), on Friday released two exposure drafts of new Federal Financial Accounting Technical Releases, Implementation Guidance on Asbestos Cleanup Costs Associated with Facilities and Installed Equipment and Implementation Guidance on Cleanup Costs Associated

September 3, 2009

FASB Drops Some FIN 48 Disclosure Requirements for Private Companies

FASB on Wednesday issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2009-06 to provide additional implementation guidance on accounting for uncertainty in income taxes and to eliminate the disclosures required by FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Paragraphs 740-10-50-15(a) through (b) for nonpublic entities, including pass-through and not-for-profit entities. The new guidance involves requirements

September 1, 2009

IFRS Risk Planning and Controls Execution

Conversion to IFRS will be far more than a technical accounting exercise. Implementing IFRS will impact many, if not all, aspects of your business operations, including information technology. It may bring companywide changes that will spawn new risks. These include system changes, modifications to processes impacting employees’ day-to-day duties, and

September 1, 2009

Government

GASB acknowledged the precarious fiscal condition of state and local governments as it issued an exposure draft concerning the effects of Chapter 9 bankruptcies. Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code applies to filings by governmental entities. The standard setter also issued a proposal intended to improve consistency in

September 1, 2009

Highlights

U.S. private companies may have a new choice for accounting and financial reporting—a slimmed-down version of IFRS tailored more to their needs. IFRS for SMEs (small- and medium-size entities) is a simplification of full IFRS. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), which released the new standard in July after

September 1, 2009

Financial Reporting

FASB issued an exposure draft of a proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, Disclosures about the Credit Quality of Financing Receivables and the Allowance for Credit Losses. The goal of the proposed statement is to provide more information regarding the nature of credit risk inherent in the creditor’s portfolio

August 31, 2009

FASB Proposes Fair Value Measurement Disclosures Update

FASB issued an exposure draft of a proposed Accounting Standards Update that would affect all entities that are required to make disclosures about recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements. The board says the proposal would improve Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures—Overall Subtopic (Subtopic 820-10) of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification.