IASB, FASB Publish Joint Business Combo Proposals

In yet another step toward global accounting standards convergence, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board each published exposure drafts containing joint proposals for accounting for business combinations.The proposals include a draft standard that the two boards developed in their first major joint project, which could be used for both domestic and cross-border financial reporting. The proposed standard would replace the existing requirements of the IASB's IFRS 3 and FASB's Statement No. 141.The drafts retain the fundamental requirement of IFRS 3 and Statement 141 to account for all business combinations using a single method -- where one party is always identified as acquiring the other. The principal changes being proposed include a requirement to measure the business acquired at fair value, and to recognize the goodwill attributable to any non-controlling or minority interests.The exposure drafts are available on FASB's Web site at www.fasb.org, and on the IASB's Web site at www.iasb.org. The comment period ends Oct. 28, 2005. Both boards said that they would hold public roundtable meetings to gather additional input on the proposals.