Financial reporting

Your clients may want to appeal their assessments

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.

Caterpillar Inc., the largest maker of construction and mining equipment, said it is considering “all options” to recover losses from false accounting at a Chinese business that led to a $580 million writedown.

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 Institute of Management Accountants has decided to waive its bachelor’s degree requirement for members of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants who want to earn the IMA’s Certified Management Accountant credential.

Japanese accountants are registering to take the U.S. CPA Exam as a way to increase their international employment options, according to a new survey.

Rebranding, CPA Education Day, Awards and more…

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has released new standards aimed at improving the accounting and reporting of combinations and disposals of government operations for U.S. state and local governments.

Reactions among tax preparers to Friday’s court decision striking down the legality of the IRS RTRP mandate ranged from relief to recognition that the tax prep industry needs standards. But a survey of various tax prep-related groups on LinkedIn shows that the decision mostly raised questions.

The Institute of Management Accountants and the American Accounting Association’s Management Accounting Section have teamed up on an accounting educational framework that they hope will be used to re-orient undergraduate and MBA accounting curricula to match on-the-job demands.

The Financial Accounting Foundation has completed a post-implementation review of an accounting standard dating back to 1996 that aimed to improve the way public companies report financial information about their business segments, and found that it generally achieved that purpose, although some companies are being less than forthcoming about all of their business segments.

While still predicting contraction in both the short- and the mid-term, the January edition of Accounting Today’s monthly Accountants Confidence Index rose somewhat from the previous month’s reading.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued for public comment a proposal to improve financial reporting about repurchase agreements such as the type used by Lehman Brothers.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board has issued the first four chapters of its Conceptual Framework for General Purpose Financial Reporting by Public Sector Entities.

International Accounting Standards Board chairman Hans Hoogervorst said the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board is not likely to face obstacles in joining the new multinational Accounting Standards Advisory Forum that is being set up to provide input to the IASB on setting future accounting standards, even though the Securities and Exchange Commission has not formally committed to supporting International Financial Reporting Standards.

The Big Four accounting firms saw solid revenue growth last year following strong performance in 2010 and 2011 after a severe revenue decline in 2009, according to a newly published analysis.