The Financial Accounting Standards Board has proposed a set of improvements in financial reporting on consolidations that would affect all companies required to evaluate whether they should consolidate another entity.

The Financial Accounting Foundation plans to host a series of three public roundtables early next year and a live webcast later this month to give constituents an opportunity to provide their feedback on its recent proposal to create a Private Company Standards Improvement Council.

Candidly, it has taken much longer than it should for us to fully comprehend and explain the gaping distinction between financial accounting and financial reporting. Since we figured it out, though, we've looked at things differently, to the point that we now believe a company's own transactions are not valid sources of useful information.

IMGCAP(1)]In mid-2011, the American Institute of CPAs established a Service Organization Controls reporting framework in hopes of providing the public and CPAs with a clearer understanding of the reporting options for service organizations.

More than half of global businesses are unaware of pending lease accounting changes that would virtually eliminate the use of off-balance sheet leases, according to a new survey by Grant Thornton.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released two proposed accounting standards updates to clarify the criteria for investment company accounting and develop guidance for investment property accounting.

The American Institute of CPAs has launched a new letter-writing campaign aimed at pressuring the Financial Accounting Foundation to set up a separate standard-setting board for private company accounting.