Accounting standards

The Group of 20 finance ministers, along with the European Commission, are calling for improved accounting standards in the public sector.

The International Accounting Standards Board has published revised proposals for loan loss provisioning as part of the financial instruments project that it has been working to converge with the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board, but the two proposals still take different approaches.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board may be changing its rules on business segment reporting or issuing additional guidance in response to questions raised during a post-implementation review of a 16-year-old standard.

Warning: Banks in the U.S. are bigger than they appear.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a revised set of proposals for the financial instruments accounting standards it has been working to converge with International Financial Reporting Standards.

The U.S. regulator that oversees corporate audits could face automatic spending cuts designed to reduce the federal budget deficit even though it receives no taxpayer funding.

The Private Company Council that will help set accounting standards for privately held businesses has decided to tackle three main projects for its agenda.

A couple of real accounting changes occurred, but world accounting convergence got derailed.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued an updated financial instruments standard clarifying how some fair value requirements do not apply to private companies and not-for-profit organizations.

The International Accounting Standards Board and the International Integrated Reporting Council have signed an agreement to develop an integrated corporate reporting framework that includes financial, governance, management commentary and sustainability reporting.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released an updated accounting standard for reporting amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income.

The Financial Accounting Foundation plans to conduct a post-implementation review of the standard governing accounting for income taxes to gauge how well it has performed.

The IFRS Foundation, which oversees the International Accounting Standards Board, invited nominations for membership in its Accounting Standards Advisory Forum on Friday as it moves toward a more multilateral way of setting accounting standards with involvement from more parts of the world than the U.S. and Europe.

Highlights from the world of audit and attest in the previous month

The proposed Accounting Standards Update, Transfers and Servicing (Topic 860)-Effective Control for Transfers with Forward Agreements to Repurchase Assets and Accounting for Repurchase Financings, would clarify the guidance for distinguishing repo agreements, and other transfers with forward agreements to repurchase transferred assets, as either sales or secured borrowings, and improve disclosures about them.

A Q&A with the new chairman of the new Private Company Council on its process and purpose

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a new accounting standards update that aims to clarify the kinds of transactions that are subject to disclosures about offsetting.

The American Institute of CPAs is facing opposition from the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and PricewaterhouseCoopers on its proposal to create a non-GAAP financial reporting framework for small and midsize businesses.

The International Accounting Standards Board has released some of the findings from a survey it recently conducted on financial disclosures in which it asked accountants and financial statement users what factors are contributing to disclosure overload.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has released for public comment a new consultation paper aimed at improving the quality of audits.