CPA Observation Post

FASB and IASB prepare proposal for lease accounting

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board will convene this week to discuss a proposal on the "whole contract" approach to lease accounting. Whole contract accrues the average rent as the reported lease cost and adjusts the asset value and lease liability to the present value of remaining lease payments. Read More>>

FASB moving forward in project to combat disclosure overload (via @AICPA_JofA)

After almost two years of development, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is scheduled to invite the public to comment on its project on a disclosure framework in June or July, FASB Chairman Leslie Seidman said Thursday. The framework project is designed to reduce disclosure overload. Its objectives are to determine which information is essential to investors; to get preparers to think about relevance; and to organize financial statements more sensibly. Read More>>

FASB to reconsider management's going-concern assessment (via @AICPA_JofA)

The Financial Accounting Standards Board will reconsider the question of whether management should be required to assess if there is doubt about an entity's ability to continue as a going concern, according to a summary of decisions from Wednesday's board meeting. Read More>>

Whole contract added to list of lease accounting proposals

Whole contract, or Approach D, is a fourth possible approach for lease accounting that could be included in the second exposure draft for the lease accounting convergence project. It was added to the list of approaches after the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board could not agree on the other approaches. Whole contract "accrues the average rent as the reported lease cost ... and adjusts the lease liability on each balance sheet date to be the present value of the remaining lease payments," Erika Morphy writes in this article. Read More>>

Analysis: U.S. remains a hurdle to aligning accounting rules (via @AccountingToday)

The International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board have been converging major accounting standards for several years, and have passed the original target date of June 2011 for completion. Finance ministers from 20 countries finally gave the boards a deadline recently, demanding they finish alignment by mid 2013 at the latest. Even if they do, it is unclear whether the U.S. will move to incorporate international accounting standards in the near future. Read More>>

FASB, IASB expect final standards in convergence projects by mid-2013 (via @AICPA_JofA)

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board expect to complete their major convergence projects by mid-2013 with the issuance of final, joint standards, according to a report to the Financial Stability Board Plenary on Accounting Convergence. Read More>>

Tentative agreements reached on two financial instruments issues (via @AICPA_JofA)

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board on Tuesday reached tentative, joint decisions related to two specific topics in the classification and measurement portion of their project on accounting for financial instruments. One tentative decision affects the business model assessment for classifying financial assets at amortized costs; the other concerns bifurcation of financial assets and financial liabilities. Read More>>

No Relief in Sight for Disclosure Overload (via @AccountingWeb)

Representatives of accounting firms, banks, and private companies have told the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) during recent outreach meetings that their greatest concern with current accounting rules is the explosion in the volume of required disclosures. But remarks made by Board Chairman Leslie Seidman at an April 9 education session suggest that the board will not make any changes to the FASB disclosure requirements anytime soon. >>Read More

FASB Readies Framework for Financial Statement Disclosures (via @AccountingToday)

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is making progress on its disclosure framework project, which aims to establish an overarching framework to help the board establish requirements for disclosures in notes to financial statements. Read More>>

FASB decides review of FIN 48 isn't necessary (via @AICPA_JofA)

In the wake of a post-implementation review conducted by the Financial Accounting Foundation, the Financial Accounting Standards Board announced that it does not plan to review or reconsider FIN 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes. The FAF review found that the interpretation is resulting in more consistent and useful information for users of financial statements. However FASB said it will weigh the review's technical findings in its own review of whether simplifications or modifications in U.S. GAAP are needed for private companies. Read More>>