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TOPICS / ACCOUNTING & REPORTING

Proposed Amendments Ease First-Time Adoption of IFRS

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on Thursday published proposed amendments to IFRS 1, First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. The proposal would amend IFRS 1 by replacing references to a fixed transition date of “1 January 2004” with “the date of transition to IFRS.” As a result, entities

FASB Loss Disclosures Proposal Conflicts With AICPA-ABA Agreement

The AICPA’s Financial Reporting Executive Committee (FinREC) told FASB in a comment letter issued Monday that it has concerns about auditors’ ability to corroborate information on loss contingencies with the client’s legal counsel until the AICPA and the American Bar Association can update a longstanding agreement that details information attorneys

FASB Will Get New Leadership, Bigger Board

Bob Herz is retiring as FASB’s chairman. Fellow board member Leslie Seidman has been appointed acting chairman, effective Oct. 1, according to a press release issued by the Financial Accounting Foundation, FASB’s parent organization. Along with the leadership change, FAF announced that FASB is reverting from its current five member

FASB Would Drop Fair Value for Pension Plan Loans

FASB this week issued a Proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) that is intended to clarify how defined contribution pension plans should classify and measure loans to participants. Under the Proposed ASU, Plan Accounting—Defined Contribution Pension Plans (Topic 962), Reporting Loans to Participants by Defined Contribution Pension Plans (a consensus of

FASB Releases Draft of Insurance Contracts Proposal

FASB released a staff draft of an Accounting Standards Update regarding potential changes to accounting for costs related to acquiring or renewing insurance contracts. The draft applies to insurance organizations that are within the scope of Topic 944, which includes stock life insurance entities, mutual life insurance entities, and property

Proposal Would Require Most Leases to Appear on the Balance Sheet

FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) today unveiled a joint proposal to revamp lease accounting. The proposal would result in a single “right-of-use” approach applied consistently to lease accounting for lessees and lessors. Among other changes, the approach would result in the liability for payments under all lease

Convergence Milestone

FASB and the IASB wrapped up the first of three rounds of issuing proposed standards in their final push toward U.S. GAAP-IFRS convergence, even as they gave themselves an extra six months to complete the ambitious project. In what is potentially their most far-reaching joint proposal to date, the boards

FASB Requires Expanded Disclosures on Credit Quality of Financing Receivables

FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) no. 2010-20, Disclosures about the Credit Quality of Financing Receivables and the Allowance for Credit Losses, which FASB said in a press release will improve transparency in financial reporting by public and nonpublic companies that hold financing receivables, which include loans, lease receivables and

Blue-Ribbon Panel Narrows Field for Private Company Financial Reporting

A blue-ribbon panel weighed in on seven alternative models for private company financial reporting at its meeting Monday, eliminating models that were based on IFRS and a model that effectively would have maintained the status quo. All of the remaining models under consideration by the panel would result in differences

New Leader to Review Post-Implementation of FASB, GASB Standards

The Financial Accounting Foundation, the parent organization of FASB and GASB, has named Mark Schroeder, a recently retired senior partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP, to the newly created position of post-implementation review leader. In this role, Schroeder will assume responsibility for the development, implementation and management of the post-implementation

News Highlights for July 2010

  While FASB and the IASB work to complete an unprecedented 11 standards over the next 14 months, SEC Chief Accountant James Kroeker told the JofA in April that he would support the boards’ cutting the number of projects due in June 2011, provided there was good rationale for a

Financial Reporting

Responding to the recent rise in loan modifications, FASB updated standards related to troubled-debt restructuring. Amendments in the update are aimed at increasing comparability regarding modifications of loans accounted for within pools under ASC Subtopic 310-30, Receivables—Loans and Debt Securities Acquired with Deteriorated Credit Quality. FASB said differences in practice

G-20 Reiterates Call for Convergence

For the fourth time in less than two years, the Group of 20 (G-20) leaders called for a single set of global accounting standards and urged FASB and the IASB to complete their convergence projects. “We re-emphasized the importance we place on achieving a single set of high quality improved

FASB, IASB Propose Common Standard for Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure

FASB and the IASB on Tuesday issued separate exposure drafts intended to develop common requirements for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements in U.S. GAAP and IFRS. The EDs are the result of the boards’ joint efforts to ensure that fair value will have the

Big Changes Proposed for Revenue Recognition

FASB and the IASB on Thursday released a proposal that would create a single revenue recognition standard for both U.S. GAAP and IFRS. The standard is designed to streamline accounting for revenue across industries and correct inconsistencies in existing standards and practices. The new standard would also require businesses to

Financial Reporting

FASB and the IASB published an exposure draft, Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting: The Reporting Entity, that is part of a joint project between the boards to develop a common and improved conceptual framework for developing future accounting standards. The ED discusses what constitutes a reporting entity, which in different

IASB Asks Constituents to Comment on FASB Proposal

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on Thursday asked its constituents to comment on the financial instruments accounting proposals FASB released Wednesday. The IASB said that because FASB’s proposal is part of the global convergence project, it is important for FASB to receive feedback on the proposed model from the

FASB Proposes Comprehensive Changes to Financial Instruments Accounting

FASB on Wednesday issued a much anticipated exposure draft intended to improve accounting for financial instruments. Among other changes under the proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU), financial statements would incorporate both amortized cost and fair value information about financial instruments held for collection or payment of cash flows. The proposal

IASB Chairman Outlines Approach for Reconciling Financial Instrument Standards

International Accounting Standards Board Chairman Sir David Tweedie on Tuesday outlined a possible approach for reconciling the divergent IASB and FASB models for financial instruments accounting.   With FASB’s comprehensive exposure draft on financial instruments expected any day, Tweedie said during a JofA exclusive interview at the AICPA Council meeting

Banks Earn $18B in First Quarter; FASB 166 and 167 Alter Balance Sheets

FDIC-insured commercial banks and savings institutions posted an aggregate profit of $18 billion in the first quarter of 2010, driven mostly by a 16.6% year-over-year drop in provisions for loan losses. It was the industry’s most profitable quarter since the first quarter of 2008, although the FDIC noted it is

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