Japanese GAAP is moving closer to International Financial Reporting Standards under an agreement that will accelerate the process.

Longstanding weaknesses in the financial systems of government agencies pose a "formidable challenge," according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board said it is looking for suggestions on whether it should pursue a project on accounting for insurance contracts, and whether it should team up with the International Accounting Standards Board, which has been working on a similar project.

Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell vetoed a bill that would have allowed Connecticut to set its own accounting standards."I have serious concerns about the potential fiscal impact this bill may have," said Rell. "The plain language of this bill would allow the comptroller to issue financial statements in whatever standards she prescribed."

It may seem belated, but the Governmental Accounting Standards Board has just recently gotten around to defining such fundamental accounting concepts as "asset" and "liability."It has also defined a pair of distinct financial statement elements that are new to accounting and whose definitions should clarify certain questions that have confounded governmental accountants and auditors for years.

Fewer taxpayers took advantage of the Internal Revenue Service's free electronic tax return filing service in 2007 than in previous years, according to a new audit report released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.Moreover, the audit identified multiple calculation errors made by the commercial software of Free File Alliance firms.

The more we consider what the Financial Accounting Standards Board accomplished with SFAS 159, the more we're warming up to the sea change it represents. This standard, titled "The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities," permits without requiring managers to account for financial assets and liabilities using their fair values, with unrealized gains and losses flowing through the income statement. Some have disparaged SFAS 159 for not mandating full fair-value reporting, while others have criticized its "optionality."We see it quite differently. For years we have endorsed the Quality Financial Reporting paradigm that calls managers to step out on their own and try to meet the needs of the capital markets for useful information. In effect, SFAS 159 provides a nudge in this direction by allowing, even encouraging, innovative managers to jump into QFR by applying fair value without waiting for everyone else to get into the pool. We've often said that the biggest rewards will go to those who start providing better financial statements, so we're gratified that FASB seems to have seen it our way.