We won’t have any office hours this week, because we are in the midst of two transitions. First, Jeffrey Hales replaces Ray Pfeiffer as FASB Research Fellow, so they will both be tied up. And I am working with Remedy Communications to make the transition to a version of office hours that will allow people [...] Read more > >
As I mentioned during a recent session of office hours that I hosted, I believe there are a number of persistent myths in accounting that seem to get passed on from generation to generation. I promised to share them on the blog, so here they are. Read more > >
Last week, a revised version of “A Research Based Perspective on the SEC’s Proposed Rule on Roadmap for Potential Use of Financial Statements Prepared in Accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by U.S. Issuers,” comments from the Financial Accounting Standards Committee of the American Accounting Association, appeared on SSRN. In this post, I offer [...] Read more > >
Last week, a revised version of “A Research Based Perspective on the SEC’s Proposed Rule on Roadmap for Potential Use of Financial Statements Prepared in Accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by U.S. Issuers,” comments from the Financial Accounting Standards Committee of the American Accounting Association, appeared on SSRN. In this post, I offer [...] Read more > >
I have almost recovered from the AAA Doctoral Consortium. This 4-day marathon gave some 90 or so doctoral students the chance to hear from over a dozen faculty on both research topics and on career advice from (in no particular order): Read more > >
The issue of accounting for contingent rentals was a big part of the recent research brainstorming session on leasing. I think that academics may have something to offer the FASB and others related to accounting for contingent rentals. In particular, what can economic/finance theory tell us about the desirability of capitalizing expected contingent rentals? Read more > >
We often hear the argument that accounting policy shouldn’t matter since it doesn’t change the underlying economics of a transaction or event. Preparers, however, often act as if the accounting does matter (think pensions, stock option expensing, other comprehensive income, just to name a few). Here’s another example… Read more > >
The current financial crisis is sure to bring about a wave of new laws and regulations. These will have far-reaching and perhaps long-lasting effects on not only financial institutions, but on all firms as well as investors and other parties. Some are already questioning whether any new regulations will be effective, and whether their benefits [...] Read more > >
The mission of FASRI is to facilitate the communication between researchers and standard-setters. Needless to say, one important way to judge the usefulness of accounting academic work is to see to what extent the research work can inform regulators of the policy implications. In a world that the regulation governing financial reporting and disclosure is [...] Read more > >
Here’s my opinion about financial reporting research and this blog and second life. I really think it’s being underutilized. As Rob Bloomfield said, ideas are all over the place in these sessions. I have come away from them with 3 ideas so far (and I’ve had to miss a fair number of these sessions because [...] Read more > >