The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board issued common disclosure requirements Friday to help investors better understand the impact of offsetting, or netting, on a company’s financial position.

Lack of clarity about the requirements for the Small Business Lending Fund that was established last year by the Small Business Jobs Act led to confusion among both lenders and borrowers alike, according to a new government report.

IMGCAP(1)]As the SEC’s limited liability provisions on Extensible Business Reporting Language data begin to expire, public companies find themselves looking for answers about how current and future legislation will affect their filings.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has released its latest review of Interactive Data Financial Statement submissions and found that filers are making progress.

IMGCAP(1)]Check out the digital edition of the December issue of Accounting Today.

Olympus has until December 14 to fix its financial statements in the wake of a high-profile accounting scandal if the camera maker wants to retain its listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The American Institute of CPAs and two Brazilian accounting organizations have signed a two-year agreement paving the way for the CPA Exam to be offered in South America next year.

Former U.S. Senator and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine faced questions from a skeptical congressional panel Thursday over his role in the collapse of MF Global and the disappearance of $1.2 billion from customer accounts.

Proposed changes in lease accounting standards could have a broad negative impact on the U.S. economy, triggering a $10 billion reduction in gross domestic product and 60,000 fewer jobs by 2016, according to a new study from the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board appear to be growing tired of trying to resolve their many disagreements after 10 years of ups and downs in their relationship, and the main question now seems to be whether it will be an amicable split.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has published a staff alert cautioning auditors to beware of the risks of material misstatements in the financial statements they audit in today’s volatile economic environment.

Financial Accounting Standards Board chair Leslie Seidman advocated a cautious transition to International Financial Reporting Standards during a speech Tuesday in which she said the board should retain its control over U.S. GAAP.

IMGCAP(1)]Many of us on the Blue Ribbon Panel on Standard Setting for Private Companies believed we were on the verge of an historic change that would have relieved millions of private companies of accounting standards geared more to the needs of public companies and their financial statement users.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will delay its eagerly anticipated decision for a few more months on whether or not to incorporate International Financial Reporting Standards into the U.S. financial reporting system.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has struck a deal with Dutch regulators to carry out joint inspections of auditing firms.

BDO International said Friday the worldwide revenue of its network of accounting firms increased 7.36 percent for the year ended Sept. 30, 2011, to $5.672 billion, mainly due to growth in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

SEC WARNED AGAINST CONDORSEMENT APPROACH

'Wow" would be sort of an understated onomatopoeia to describe the past year in terms of events, changes and headlines within the accounting profession. As this is my 11th end-of-the-year column, I'll again foolishly predict that 2012 could not possibly top the previous year, despite a decade of being proved wrong. Perhaps this is why I rarely gamble while attending various events in Las Vegas.

Your November coverage of the Chartered Global Management Accountant accreditation, in addition to your, "AICPA, CIMA Plan Push for New Management Credential," (AccoutingToday.com, October 18) sheds light on the critical role management accountants play in today's competitive global marketplace. What this article fails to share is that there are, in fact, gaps with regard to the testing, assessment and measurement of critical skills during the first three years of this venture.

The European Commission has proposed a draft law that could split up the largest auditing firms and force them to use a separate entity and name for their advisory and non-audit practices.