The Financial Accounting Foundation’s recently created Private Company Council plans to host its initial public meeting on December 6.

Billy Atkinson

The meeting will take place at the FAF’s offices in Norwalk, Conn., where the Financial Accounting Standards Board is also located. The FAF established the PCC as a replacement for the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee in response to complaints that exceptions needed to be made in accounting standards for privately held companies. A Blue-Ribbon Panel was set up by the FAF, the American Institute of CPAs and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy to meet for a year and recommend changes in standard-setting for private companies. It issued a report in January 2011 that eventually led, after some controversy about its structure and independence from FASB, to the creation of the PCC. The PCC will work with FASB to determine whether and when to modify U.S. GAAP for private companies.

The agenda items for the inaugural PCC meeting include an official transition from the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee, the FASB advisory-only body that was established in 2006. The PCC also plans to discuss FASB’s private company decision-making framework, and the feedback received from stakeholders who responded to FASB’s invitation to comment on the framework.

Members of the PCC will be briefed by FASB staff on private company issues and projects. There will also be a preliminary discussion of current FASB projects and previously issued standards relevant to private companies.

“The 10 members of the PCC are eager to begin addressing the critical issues facing users, preparers, and auditors of private company financial statements,” said PCC chairman Billy M. Atkinson, who formerly chaired NASBA and was a member of the Blue-Ribbon Panel. “Our success will be based on collaboration and mutual respect for and between the PCC and the FASB, which I am confident we will achieve, and our ability to obtain meaningful feedback on all issues from private company stakeholders.”

The inaugural PCC meeting will be webcast live at www.accountingfoundation.org. Those interested in observing the meeting in person must reserve a seat in advance, as seating is limited, according to the FAF. The meeting agenda will be posted in advance on the FAF’s Web site.