Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative

Bob Lipe blogged last week on the SEC’s release of two documents related to their exploration of whether/how to integrate IFRS into US GAAP.  Since the release of those documents, the SEC, IASB, and FASB have all made public statements that provide insights as to where regulators and standard-setters sit on this issue.  The least informative [...] Read more > >

The deadline for the SEC to make a decision on whether or not to accept IFRS for domestic issuers is drawing near.  Obviously, this is an important decision that will have tremendous implications for accounting educators and the FASB.  In a recent speech in China, Hans Hoogervorst, the new Chairman of the IASB, commented that [...] Read more > >

On Thurs, July 7, the SEC will hold a roundtable on International Financial Reporting Standards. The agenda (available here) looks to cover aspects of the Work Plan with particular emphasis on investor, small company, and government preparedness. The event will be webcast and is scheduled to run from 10 am to about 4 pm in the [...] Read more > >

…or so says The Economist in this article. While I generally think highly of the The Economist, this article contains one of my pet peeves, which is a loose discussion of fair value. In particular, the article states that “In 2009, under its previous chairman, Bob Herz, FASB narrowly voted 3-2 that all assets should be [...] Read more > >

Grant Thornton recently issued a white paper that reports results of a survey (318 respondents) they conducted with some CFOs from both private and public companies (authors of the paper are John Hepp and Meredith Vogel). Notwithstanding the usual caveats that come with survey data, there are some interesting (and sometimes surprising) results reported in [...] Read more > >

I just read an insightful, if not provocative, paper on the shortcomings of a potential IFRS monopoly. The paper entitled, “IFRS Monopoly: The Pied Piper of Financial Reporting,” is written by Shyam Sunder of Yale University, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to form a balanced opinion about whether the US should adopt [...] Read more > >

As announced on Oct 29, 2010, the SEC released its first progress report on the Work Plan which will lead up to the Commission’s decision in 2011 on whether and how to incorporate IFRS into the US financial reporting system. Much of the progress report is dedicated to explaining what the SEC staff is doing to [...] Read more > >

I have been in residence at the FASB for one week and I must admit that my head is spinning with all the opportunities to get involved. I want to do them all! It’s been quite a first week. The day after I arrived Bob Herz announced his retirement effective September 30th — I hope [...] Read more > >

A recent Journal of Accountancy article states that the SEC Chief Accountant Jim Kroeker would support the FASB’s cutting the number of convergence projects due for completion in 2011. Here’s one excerpt from that article: “June 30, 2011, is an arbitrary deadline and it’s not one that’s been put in place by the SEC or by [...] Read more > >

Next Monday (April 12) is the first meeting of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Standard Setting for Private Companies.  This has the potential to be a very wide-ranging and interesting continuation of a very long-standing discussion about GAAP for non-public entities. As I understand it, many years ago, the debate began and was labeled the “big [...] Read more > >