Accounting standards

The Private Company Council, the standard-setter for privately held companies, voted Tuesday to finalize an alternative that would exempt private companies from separately recognizing and measuring non-competition agreements and customer-related intangible assets that are not capable of being sold or licensed independently in a business combination.

I’m a CPA, and I’m here to tell you financial reporting became simpler and easier to use in two significant areas.

A trade group representing credit unions is expressing concerns over upcoming standards from the Financial Accounting Standards Board on credit losses.

A roundup of audit and accounting news from the previous month

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a new accounting standards update to provide guidance on disclosing uncertainties about a business’s ability to continue as a going concern, while further distancing U.S. GAAP from International Financial Reporting Standards.

A post-implementation review of an accounting standard for state and local governments on the impairment of capital assets and insurance recoveries found that it provides important information to users, but does not resolve all the issues it was meant to address.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is bringing charges against a telecommunications equipment maker and two of its former executives for improperly recognizing as revenue over a million dollars’ worth of inventory.

Paychex identified five issues it deemed of greatest importance to the country’s small business owners this election year.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released for public comment a staff consultant paper on standard-setting related to auditing accounting estimates and fair value measurements.

A post-implementation review conducted by the Financial Accounting Foundation of a 2004 accounting standard on share-based payment transaction said that it achieved its purpose and provides useful information to financial statement users.

The International Accounting Education Standards Board has issued a new plan to support the adoption and implementation of the recently revised International Education Standards for accountants.

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants has proposed to strengthen the auditor independence standards in the ethics code to address long associations with audit and assurance clients.

Ian Mackintosh, vice-chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, described some of the failures of the convergence process with the Financial Accounting Standards Board in a speech Wednesday, insisting that wholesale adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards is preferable to convergence.

The International Accounting Standards Board has released a new document describing some of its most recent tentative decisions from the first half of the year on the standards for lease accounting, including what appears to be an about-face on how leases should be categorized, opening up a new gulf between it and the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Hans Hoogervorst, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, reportedly told an audience in Singapore last week that full convergence is no longer an achievable project.

A roundup of recent audit & attest news

The International Accounting Standards Board has issued the final element of its own long-awaited financial instruments accounting standard after failing to reach a consensus with the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board on key elements related to credit losses and loan impairments.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has released a new paper on how companies can get ready for the newly converged revenue recognition accounting standard.

Lawmakers who are part of a group of current and former CPAs and accountants in Congress are expressing concern about the possibility of the Securities and Exchange Commission allowing U.S. companies a choice of using either U.S. GAAP or International Financial Reporting Standards.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board voted Wednesday to finalize an accounting and financial reporting standard aimed at increasing transparency and consistency of financial reporting about consolidation.