IASB NOT WAITING FOR U.S.
New York - International Accounting Standards Board Chairman Sir David Tweedie said that he won't wait for the board's U.S. counterpart to finalize its own revisions to fair value accounting for financial instruments. Speaking at a recent meeting of European finance ministers in Luxembourg, Tweedie promised that he would deliver on his promise to revise the IAS 39 standards on financial instruments. After extensive consultation with various stakeholders, the IASB will give companies more flexibility to use historical cost in valuing financial instruments, rather than requiring them to use fair value measurement.
That approach would put it at odds with the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board, which has been moving toward expanding fair value accounting to encompass loans, as well as financial instruments and assets such as mortgage-backed securities. Despite the differences, Tweedie said that he believed that the IASB and FASB would still be able to resolve their differences.
DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU REVENUES HIT BY ECONOMY
New York - Despite growth in its Asia-Pacific region, as well as in its consulting unit, wobbly economic conditions both domestic and abroad resulted in Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu reporting a 4.9 percent decline in fiscal 2009 global revenues in U.S. dollars, to $26.1 billion, though it saw 1 percent growth in local currency terms.
The world's largest auditing and consulting firm said that for the fifth consecutive year, its Asia-Pacific region led in growth with an increase of 7.6 percent, with the Americas region falling 1.3 percent. Consulting was the fastest-growing function at 7.3 percent, while audit and tax were flat compared with the prior year. Deloitte said that a decrease in M&A activity resulted in its financial advisory services falling 6.1 percent.
In fiscal 2009, the firm committed to more than $1 billion in strategic investments, including plans to construct Deloitte University, a learning and development facility; and acquiring BearingPoint's North American public sector practice.
FASB LAUNCHES NONPROFIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Norwalk, Conn. - The Financial Accounting Standards Board has established a Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee to offer input to the board on guidance, technical projects, and longer-term issues affecting nonprofits.
FASB anticipates that the NAC will provide a discussion forum on critical issues affecting the not-for-profit sector. The NAC will also help FASB and its staff members communicate to the not-for-profit sector about recent and past guidance, current and proposed projects, and other issues of importance.
Jeffrey Mechanick, assistant director for non-public entities at FASB, explained that while the board primarily deals with standards for public companies, not-for-profits are key constituencies for the accounting standard-setter. In the past, FASB has created standards for changes in endowments and mergers and acquisitions pertaining to nonprofits. FASB has also been working on several joint convergence projects with the International Accounting Standards Board that could have an impact on nonprofits, including lease accounting, revenue recognition and financial instruments.
The committee will initially contain 12 to 15 individuals from the not-for-profit sector, including financial report users, preparers, practitioners, and those with backgrounds in academia and the law who deal with the not-for-profit sector. The committee will include representatives from both large and small nonprofits of various kinds, including higher education, health care, charities and others. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board will continue to deal with accounting issues affecting government entities. FASB doesn't include certain tax-exempt entities, such as credit unions, under the not-for-profit umbrella.
FASB plans to form the new committee in early 2010, and its initial meeting will probably take place mid-year. It will likely meet two or three times per year, with meetings open to the public to the extent possible, and possibly webcast.
FASB will begin seeking nominations for committee members in December. To participate in the nomination process, contact Jeffrey Mechanick at jdmechnick@fasb.org or Alicia Posta at aaposta@fasb.org.
