FASB and IASB postpone timeline for converging

Norwalk, Conn.

Leaders of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board said in mid-April that they have pushed back their work on the handful of "priority" convergence projects that they had committed to complete this year.

The delay was announced in a joint podcast by FASB chair Leslie Seidman and IASB chair Sir David Tweedie. They said they would "extend by a few months" their work on the revenue recognition, leasing, financial instruments and insurance projects.

In the podcast, they insisted that the original June 2011 date by which they had originally planned to complete their major convergence projects was merely a "target" and not a firm "deadline."

They acknowledged, however, that the Group of 20 international economic leaders had encouraged them to complete their work by June 2011. FASB declined to offer interviews with its officials.

Last fall, the two boards extended the timeline for the major convergence projects after an earlier extension from June 2011 to the end of 2011. Under the timeline set late last year, the two boards agreed to concentrate on completing the revenue recognition, leasing and financial instruments standards by the end of the year.

Tweedie's second term as chairman of IASB will end in June and he will be replaced by Hans Hoogervorst. "We have decided to extend the timetable for a few additional months to enable us to check whether our conclusions will last the test of time," he said. "We are also mindful of the G20 target. We have been reminded of that many times over the last few years, and we intend to try to finish this convergence program by the end of 2011."

He and Seidman said that they needed the extra time to incorporate the feedback that they had received on the exposure drafts of the proposed standards and to hone the standards in response.

Seidman and Tweedie did not provide a firm date for the work on the four standards. However, according to a FASB spokesman, the two boards expected to issue an updated progress report that will lay out the plans for completion of the revenue recognition, leasing, financial instruments and insurance projects. The progress report will also include the remaining issues to be addressed by FASB and the IASB, and the type of outreach that will be conducted for additional input on the final standards.

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