FASB TO DELAY FAIR VALUE EFFECTIVE DATE
Norwalk, Conn. -- The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued final guidance that would defer for a year the effective date on which private and public entities would have to account for fair value measurements.
At its November meeting, FASB decided to defer the effective date of Statement 157 for all nonfinancial assets and nonfinancial liabilities, except those that are recognized or disclosed at fair value in the financial statements on a recurring basis (at least annually). FASB authorized its staff to proceed to a draft of a proposed FASB staff position for vote by written ballot, with a comment period of 30 days.
Statement 157 was issued on Sept. 15, 2006, and as issued, is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after Nov. 15, 2007, and interim periods within those fiscal years.
Some preparers and others have observed, however, that in many areas they are having difficulty resolving implementation issues related to nonfinancial assets and nonfinancial liabilities that are acquired in a business combination or in the determination of impairment for nonfinancial assets and nonfinancial liabilities, since those fair value measurements frequently rely on unobservable inputs.
Accordingly, a partial deferral of the effective date of Statement 157 would allow for more time to resolve these issues without eliminating many of the statement's improvements to financial reporting.
GEOGLOBAL ENGAGES KPMG
GeoGlobal Resources, a Calgary-based oil and natural gas exploration concern, has retained Big Four firm KPMG as its new auditor.
KPMG succeeds Ernst & Young, which resigned the engagement in December.
In a federal filing, the company did not state a reason for its former auditor's resignation. KPMG said that it will audit the company's financials for the year ended Dec. 31, 2007.
UHY NAMED MEDAVANT AUDITOR
UHY LLP has been engaged as auditor to MedAvant Healthcare Solutions, a Norcross, Ga.-based provider of health care information technology services.
UHY succeeds Big Four firm Deloitte, which resigned in December.
MedAvant said that there wasn't any disagreement with Deloitte on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure. The decision to engage UHY was approved by the MedAvant's audit committee.
