Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative

The first week of classes is often so hectic that harried faculty cannot see many positives from the experience.  I am teaching our introductory PhD seminar, and I find that my attitude is a bit more positive than usual after week one, mainly because of the papers we cover the first week.  This post offers [...] Read more > >

In an surprise announcement, the FAF announced today that FASB chairman, Robert Herz, will retire two years ahead of the end of his term.   FASB board member Leslie Seidman will serve as acting chairman from Oct. 1. A WSJ article reports that “[FAF President Jack] Brennan said in an interview that the decision to step down [...] Read more > >

What’s the point of SEC filings? If someone asks me, “What’s a 10-K?” I’ll tell them it’s a document submitted to the SEC containing the annual financial statements of a company. If pressed, I’ll probably mention the footnotes, MD&A, etc. It’s that “etc.” part that a recent CFO.com article perked my interest about. The article talks [...] Read more > >

okay so this is supposed to be a blog, not a Q&A, but i’m in a quandry. I have always thought, based on a former MBA student Danielle De-Martino, who worked for a company that did factoring .. that most of the time this was done merely to outsource the credit & collection function. [...] Read more > >

A Harvard U evoluntary psychology recently was accused of fabricating data… bad situation of course. One of The University of Texas psychology faculty members wrote about this event; he’s quite smart. He and I overlapped at the University of Illinois in the 1980’s – he in psychology and me, down the street in [...] Read more > >

On Tuesday the FASB released the proposed accounting standard for leases. Comment letters should be sent either to the FASB or the IASB. The boards will jointly consider any comment letters received. So, as it pertains to leases, “speak now or forever hold you peace.” Comment letters are due December 15th. Read more > >

In recent months, it seems I’m seeing an increasing frequency of references to “sustainability reporting,” “integrated reporting,” “triple bottom line,” and other monikers.  In Edith Orenstein’s FEI Financial Reporting Blog this morning, guest author Tom Hood from the Maryland Association of CPAs includes news of the creation of the International Integrated Reporting Committee.  They’ve got a [...] Read more > >

How do we measure the quality of a panel discussion? If we measure it by the subsequent discussion it generates, the AAA panel on Financial Statement Presentation was definitely a success. Bob Lipe and I had a chance to talk with a number of people afterward, and I thought I would put in [...] Read more > >

If someone had asked me this question, my quick response would have been 19. (Well, it might have been something more nuanced like, “I think around 18 or so.”)  But a recent post by Tom Selling on the Accounting Onion points out how in many of the IFRIC’s decisions not to provide an interpretation (i.e., [...] Read more > >

I have to admit, I’m not on Twitter yet. This, however, may be enough to convince me to join. FAF, FASB, and GASB on Twitter. Follow them here. Read more > >