With great anticipation I was awaiting FASB Statement 159, "The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities." I was a bit shocked by it when it came out. Two aspects really bothered me --one, that it is an option, and two, that to a great extent, it can be applied on an instrument-by-instrument basis. I will not go into a discussion of the standard, except for the narratives explaining the dissent of two members of the seven-member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Thomas Linsmeier dissents from its issuance because he believes a fair value option generally won’t result in financial reporting that achieves many of the expressed objectives for issuing FASB 159.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce had offered up a number of recommendations for changes to the country’s legal and regulatory framework -- taking aim at Securities and Exchange Commission and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the process.

After two years of compliance with the internal control provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, proxy researcher Glass Lewis & Co. says that public companies are reporting fewer material weaknesses in their internal controls.

The Private Company Financial Reporting Committee announced its inaugural members on Tuesday.

The heads of the major accounting regulators in the United States and the European Union agree that they are on the same page in heading towards convergence of standards.

For the past year, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating how Google accounted for its income taxes, according to the online search giant’s 2006 annual report.

A board within the International Federation of Accountants is seeking comment on its exposure draft that addresses what auditors should consider when dealing with related parties and related-party transactions.