Speaking at a New York State Society of CPAs conference earlier this week, Conrad Hewitt declined to speak in absolutes when it came to across-the-board implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s infamous Section 404.The Securities and Exchange Commission chief accountant avoided absolutes when speaking on the question of compliance for micro-cap companies -- the first time that I’ve heard a federal regulator hedge their bets on implementation that’s currently planned for 2008. It would be far from the first deferral for companies will market capitalizations under $75 million -- but the first ray of hope for those small companies since the SEC declined to strongly move forward on a number of recommendations outlined last year by an advisory committee.

There have been calls by financial statement users for increased transparency with regard to financial statements. It seems the regulators are taking those demands seriously, not just by enacting standards aimed at increasing transparency, but also by ensuring that the standard-setting process is more transparent.

A board within the International Federation of Accountants has released a standard identifying disclosures to be made by governments and other public sector entities that make their budgets publicly available.According to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, such disclosures will contribute greatly to improving accountability. The new standard, IPSAS 24, “Presentation of Budget Information in Financial Statements,” applies to entities that adopt the accrual basis of financial reporting. Additionally, the cash basis standard, “Financial Reporting under the Cash Basis of Accounting,” has been updated to include both required and encouraged disclosures that apply to entities that adopt the cash basis of financial reporting.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has unanimously voted to move forward in implementing new rules that require public companies to take a more structured approach in reporting uncertain tax positions on their financial statements.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently settled civil fraud charges against the former general counsel of Comverse Technology Inc.

Two major standards setters have announced the 18 members of a new international working group established as part of a joint project to reconsider their standards on lease accounting.

This year should be one of expansion and progress at the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Though the profession will not see the issuance of many final standards, the year's projects should lead up to a productive 2008.Accountants will be keeping their eyes on several crucial projects - but the most fundamentally important may be that of the Conceptual Framework. This project will set the underlying philosophy of accountancy, the basic concepts on which generally accepted accounting standards are built.