FASB’s staff expects to report results of research on two key revenue recognition issues to the board in February—and plans to present feedback to the board early in the second quarter of 2015 on a possible delay in the standard’s effective date.
FASB financial accounting & reporting
No more extraordinary items: FASB simplifies GAAP
A new standard issued by FASB is designed to save time and reduce costs for preparers by eliminating the concept of extraordinary items from GAAP.
U.S. GAAP taxonomy for 2015 available
The 2015 U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy is available, pending SEC approval, FASB announced.
IASB issues amendments, exposure draft related to more streamlined disclosures
The amendments are designed to give preparers the ability to use professional judgment when preparing financial statements.
U.S. board members cite challenges in revenue recognition implementation
Updating systems and policies and revising contracts with customers were cited by U.S. public company board members as the top challenges to implementing revenue recognition, according to a survey by accounting and consulting firm BDO.
Keep pushing forward on revenue recognition implementation, experts say
Companies should continue their work to implement the new revenue recognition standard despite the potential that FASB may defer its effective date, experts said at the AICPA Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments.
FASB considering revenue recognition delay to reduce uncertainty
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is researching revenue recognition accounting issues that may challenge companies—and may lead to a delay in the effective date of the new standard.
Do preparers have answers to revenue recognition questions?
Financial statement preparers have questions about the new revenue recognition standard that may make a delay in the implementation date appropriate, SEC Chief Accountant James Schnurr said.
FAF, FASB, and GASB release draft strategic plan
The Financial Accounting Foundation, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board released a new joint strategic plan that spells out the organizations’ vision and mission.
A bright line in SSARSs
New standards for accounting and review services include significant changes for accountants in public practice who prepare financial statements for clients. Find out more about the changes contained in newly issued Statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS) No. 21.
FASB publishes new rules for pushdown accounting
New accounting rules published Tuesday by FASB establish whether and at what threshold an acquired business or not-for-profit organization can apply pushdown accounting. Pushdown accounting occurs in an acquisition when an acquired organization uses the acquirer’s basis of accounting to prepare its financial statements. A lack of guidance in GAAP
Reducing unnecessary complexity remains a key focus of FASB
Taking unnecessary cost and complexity out of the U.S. financial reporting system has been a primary objective for Russell Golden since he became FASB’s chairman in July 2013. FASB plans to continue its efforts to reduce complexity—while maintaining usefulness of reporting to financial statement users—in the coming years, Golden said
FASB defines management’s going-concern responsibilities
FASB issued a new financial reporting standard Wednesday defining management’s responsibility to evaluate whether there is substantial doubt about an organization’s ability to continue as a going concern and to provide related footnote disclosures. The standard provides new guidance, as current GAAP does not describe management’s responsibility to evaluate whether
FASB proposes simpler accounting for fees paid to cloud service providers
FASB on Tuesday issued a proposal designed to simplify the accounting for fees that public and private companies pay as customers in cloud-computing arrangements with third-party service providers. Rules exist under current GAAP addressing the accounting for cloud service providers. But there is no explicit accounting guidance under GAAP about
FASB share-based payments standard challenges private companies
Although a review found that FASB’s share-based payments standard achieves its purpose, private company stakeholders told a post-implementation review team that the standard is sometimes difficult for them to understand and costly to apply. After analyzing the results of the Financial Accounting Foundation review of Statement 123(R), Share-Based Payment, released
Convergence unachieved after IASB publishes financial instruments standard
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on Thursday issued a new financial instruments standard that introduces an expected-loss impairment model. But the standard falls short of the goal of convergence with financial instruments guidance being developed by FASB. IFRS 9, Financial Instruments, is the final element of the IASB’s response
Revenue transition group debates difficult implementation issues
A lively discussion by a new revenue recognition transition resource group gave FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) plenty of views to consider as they ponder how to help preparers with implementation questions related to the revenue recognition standard issued in May. The resource group, which met for
FASB votes in favor of new consolidation standard
New accounting rules approved by FASB on Wednesday are designed to make financial reporting about consolidation more transparent and consistent. FASB will issue the standard in the coming months, following the drafting of the final Accounting Standards Update (ASU). All public and private companies that apply variable-interest entity (VIE) guidance
FASB proposals on inventory, extraordinary items seek simplification
FASB published proposals Tuesday that are designed to simplify the measurement of inventory and eliminate the concept of extraordinary items. The proposals are part of FASB’s simplification initiative, which is designed to reduce cost and complexity in financial reporting while improving or maintaining the usefulness of information to users through
Revenue recognition: No time to wait
A historic new revenue recognition standard promises at least some change for a key metric for virtually all organizations that use U.S. GAAP or IFRS for their financial reporting. Urgent preparation for the change may be needed, partly because companies that plan to do a full retrospective transition may need to have systems in place to capture data for dual reporting as soon as the beginning of 2015.
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