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TOPICS / ACCOUNTING & REPORTING

Government

n FASAB has issued Technical Release 8, Clarification of Standard Relating to Inter-Entity Costs, and Technical Release 9, Implementation Guide for Statement of FASAB 29: Heritage Assets and Stewardship Land. TR8 provides guidance to federal entities on three aspects of full costing specified in SFFAS 4: (1) guidance on costs that

Framing the Future

  In 2009, FASB’s Accounting Standards Codification will affect the day-to-day work of nearly every CPA who practices, teaches or researches accounting in accordance with U.S. GAAP. By July 2009, FASB is expected to make the codification the single source of authoritative GAAP, overriding all existing literature. In other words, the

The Role of Fair Value Accounting in the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown

As the credit markets froze and stocks gyrated, investors and pundits naturally looked for someone, or some thing , to blame. Fair value accounting quickly emerged as an oft-cited problem. But is fair value really a cause of the crisis, or is it just a scapegoat? And might it have

Financial Reporting

n FASB issued proposed FASB Staff Position FAS 117-a, Endowments of Not-for-Profit Organizations: Net Asset Classification of Funds Subject to an Enacted Version of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, and Enhanced Disclosures. “The issues addressed by this FSP have widespread importance to the not-forprofit sector, especially organizations

Financial Reporting

FASB approved proposed FASB Staff Position no. FIN 48-2, Effective Date of FASB Interpretation No. 48 for Certain Nonpublic Enterprises, which defers the effective date of FIN 48 for qualified entities to the annual financial statements for fiscal years beginning after Dec. 15, 2007, unless they have issued a full

Highlights

     The SEC’s Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting voted in January to support a slate of preliminary recommendations designed to make the information presented by U.S. public companies more useful to investors while reducing the complexity of the financial reporting system. The preliminary proposals included a call for

Auditing

For news from the AICPA and state societies, visit www.cpa2biz.com, which also offers online CPE, AICPA professional literature, practice management aids and links to state society Web sites. “We were motivated to develop and issue this alert by the auditing challenges presented by the subprime credit situation and its effects

Auditing

For news from the AICPA and state societies, visit www.cpa2biz.com, which also offers online CPE, AICPA professional literature, practice management aids and links to state society Web sites.   The letter is co-signed by CAQ Governing Board Chairman James S. Turley, chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young LLP, and

Highlights

     FASB tentatively approved a one-year delay in the effective date for FIN 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, for private enterprises, including not-for-profit organizations. Acting on a request from the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee for a deferral, the FASB board is seeking public comment on a

Financial Reporting

The Private Company Financial Reporting Committee recommended that FASB delay the effective date of FIN 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes , for private companies. The PCFRC voted unanimously at its September meeting to recommend postponing the effective date until guidance is issued on FIN 48’s implications for pass-through

Refining Fair Value Measurement

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FASB Statement no. 157 defines fair value as “the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.” The standard does not require fair values to be

Highlights

     Japan and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) agreed to accelerate convergence between Japanese GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The two boards will seek to eliminate by 2008 major differences between Japanese GAAP and IFRS, with the remaining differences being removed on or before June 30,

Auditing

For news from the AICPA and state societies, visit www.cpa2biz.com, which also offers online CPE, AICPA professional literature, practice management aids and links to state society Web sites. The majority of investors (56%) said SOX was a good idea; 5% said it was a bad idea; and 30% said SOX

Accounting for Uncertainty

       EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FASB Interpretation no. 48 (FIN 48), Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, sets the threshold for recognizing the benefits of tax return positions in financial statements as “more likely than not” (greater than 50%) to be sustained by a taxing authority. The effect is most

Banking

For news from the AICPA and state societies, visit www.cpa2biz.com, which also offers online CPE, AICPA professional literature, practice management aids and links to state society Web sites. The statement describes prudent safety, soundness and consumer protection standards that lending institutions should follow to ensure borrowers obtain loans they can

A Bid for Fair Value

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Zions Bancorporation developed Employee Stock Option Appreciation Rights Securities (ESOARS) as a market-based pricing technique for expensing stock options under FASB Statement no. 123(R). ESOARS auctions may be able to achieve a lower expense for Statement no. 123(R) purposes than other option-pricing models such

Getting a Handle on Loan Fees

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Due to increased regulatory scrutiny and improved controls following Sarbanes-Oxley, financial companies are paying closer attention to the recognition of fees from loan origination. Recognition of fees from loan origination is subject to FASB Statement no. 91, which requires that these fees be netted

Financial Reporting

“The next steps that the Commission is announcing today will keep us on course with the Roadmap announced in 2005,” SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in a press release. Pending public comments on the proposal, “we remain on track to eliminate reconciliation by 2009.” In a staff position document, FASB

Highlights

FASB issued an exposure draft that calls for expanded disclosure about financial guarantee insurance contracts. The ED, Accounting for Financial Guarantee Insurance Contracts—an Interpretation of FASB Statement No. 60, would, among other things, reduce diversity in the way financial guarantee insurance contracts are accounted for by insurers. That diversity has

FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

How a CPA beat burnout after strokes, depression

Randy Crabtree, CPA, suffered two strokes in four days and struggled with his mental health for years before he learned to recognize, address, and prevent chronic stress. Learn from his insights on how CPAs can avoid professional burnout.