Accounting standards

The Financial Accounting Foundation's board of trustees has voted to approve sweeping changes in the oversight, structure and operations of the Financial Accounting Foundation and its two standards-setting boards, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has proposed an auditing standard on engagement quality review and a conforming amendment to the board's interim quality control standards that will supersede the board's interim concurring partner review requirement.

Four former executives of re-insurer General Re and one former executive of insurer American International Group were convicted by a jury of fraud and conspiracy for manipulating financial statements.

I sat in on part of a meeting of the Financial Accounting Foundation and heard that many in Europe are taken aback at the swift pace of convergence in the U.S. with international accounting standards, but they are still waiting for us to set a deadline.

The International Accounting Standards Board said its Fair Value Measurement project team has begun a standard-by-standard review of existing fair value measurements in International Financial Reporting Standards to assess whether each standard's use of a fair value measurement basis was intended to be an exit price.

In November, we devoted a column to the issues surrounding the new return preparer penalty standards under Internal Revenue Code Sec. 6694 enacted as part of the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007. Those changes focused on the expansion of coverage of Code Section 6694 to tax returns beyond income tax returns; an increase in the penalties imposed, including penalties based on 50 percent of fees derived from return preparation; and an increase in the disclosure standard required to avoid penalties to more likely than not (greater than 50 percent) from a realistic possibility of prevailing on the merits (greater than one third).

In January, the Mortgage Bankers Association, supported by five of the nation's largest lending institutions, asked the Financial Accounting Standards Board to relax certain accounting rules concerning how restructured -- that is, failed -- loans are written down.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a proposed FASB Staff Position on the endowments of nonprofit organizations that could have large implications for how they recognize their assets and use donor-restricted funds.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to adopt Auditing Standard No. 6, Evaluating Consistency of Financial Statements, and an accompanying set of amendments to its interim auditing standards.

Small companies in the United States have long complained that it's unfair in terms of costs and time that they're required to meet accounting standards that were written for companies that are many times their size.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued final guidance on transfers of financial assets and repurchase financing, which should have an impact on the mortgage and real estate investment trust industry.

CPAs who are also senior financial executives expressed pessimism in the U.S. economy and expectations of continuing declines, according to a new survey by the American Institute of CPAs.

Since taking over management of the Institute of Management Accountants in January 2004, Paul A. Sharman has established an entirely new direction for the association.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has introduced Financial Explorer, a tool that shows corporate financial performance using interactive data in Extensible Business Reporting Language.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting has released a progress report on its work to date.

The Canadian Accounting Standards Board has confirmed that use of International Financial Reporting Standards will be required in 2011 for publicly held profit-oriented companies.

Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., has written letters to the heads of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board asking how to improve the transparency of the types of assets linked to subprime mortgages.

XBRL US named Alfred R. Berkeley as the new chairman who will lead the board in 2008.

A former PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor has settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission over his audits of video game developer Take-Two Interactive Software.

Two accounting statements from the Financial Accounting Standards Board could have a large impact on accounting firms and their business clients, said accounting firm BDO Seidman.