FAF Urges Veto of Standard-Setting Measure

The head of the body that oversees both the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board has petitioned Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell to veto a measure that would allow the state comptroller to set accounting standards and bypass GASB. Robert J. DeSantis, president and chief executive of the Financial Accounting Foundation, wrote to Rell requesting that she veto the legislation, which has already passed in both the Connecticut House and Senate. The legislation "threatens the integrity and objectivity of the independent standard-setting process and is a step backwards for public trust, government accountability, financial transparency and the state's investors," DeSantis wrote. Barry Melancon, president and chief executive of the American Institute of CPAs, also sent Rell correspondence urging a veto.