Of course it's not worthy of mainstream media - Tiger Woods' travails rule - but there is weird stuff going on in the world of accounting standard setting, too.
Next week will be the AICPA's SEC/PCAOB Current Developments Conference in Washington DC, where swarms of accountants and auditors go every' [...]It's crunch time. This week, the House of Representatives will decide on a bill that will give the new systemic risk regulator the power to override the SEC's judgment in its oversight of the Financial Accounting Standards Boards. It would set up a "council" of interested parties to exercise its [...]
There are so many things going on in the standard-setting arena, it makes your head spin. And your stomach as well.
At last September's Pittsburgh meeting, the G-20 "call[ed] on our international accounting bodies to redouble their efforts to achieve a single set of high quality, global accounting" [...]
... is stock compensation. And it's about to become bigger, as "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg moved yesterday to restrict pay on managers at bailed-out banks and automakers. As Joe Nocera points out in the New York Times, retention bonuses are out; guaranteed bonuses are out. But pay for performance [...]
By now it's old news that SEC Chief Accountant Jim Kroeker mentioned that the Commission plans to review its semi-dormant roadmap for converging US accounting standards to international accounting standards. Yesterday, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro reinforced that statement at an IOSCO technical committee conference: she put accounting at the [...]
September 14 was the deadline for comments on the IASB's exposure draft in its "classification and measurements phase" of its three-part project for replacing its financial instruments standard, IAS 39. That document will receive a lot of attention at the Pittsburgh G-20 summit, I suspect.
I certainly hope [...]
It's come to this: Kanye West has disrespected the AAO Weblog.
It's true. See for yourself at this link.
My, my. The level of public discourse these days... you'd think everything
More...' [...]If the remarks of Fed Governor Elizabeth A. Duke are any indication, the answer is a flat "No."
At the outset of her remarks at Monday's AICPA banks and savings institutions conference, she gave the traditional disclaimer that her comments reflected her views and do not necessarily [...]
In response to the financial crisis, the IASB has speed-balled a proposal to rejigger the accounting for financial instruments. Issued in July, with the comment period ending today, the proposed accounting would give investors a new prism through they can view financial statements. Only two kinds of accounting would exist [...]
Yesterday, the FASB concluded its deliberations on the amendment of Statement 140 (Transfers of Assets) and FIN 46R (Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities). You can see the briefing document here.
The amendment will go into effect at the beginning of fiscal 2010, and it will cover new [...]
I doubt if there have been any more eagerly anticipated earnings in the last ten years than those of the big banks ever since they started their self-destruct process a couple years ago. First, everyone sweated over the loan loss allowances as housing and asset-backed securities slumped; then when firms [...]
The finest man I've ever encountered in business passed away Saturday - Lou Lowenstein.
Lou was teaching at Columbia Law School when I met him in 1992. His writings in Barron's had always struck a chord with me, as well as his book "What's Wrong with Wall Street."
Finally, the FASB held its long-anticipated meeting on the two FSPs that would have gutted fair value reporting as it exists. There's been more hoopla (and hope-la) about these two amendments than in all of March Madness.
Briefly, here's what transpired, as best as I could tell from [...]
I've sent my comments to FASB on their two proposals that will dilute fair value reporting. It will take a while before they actually make it to the FASB comment letter webpage, so I'm presenting both here as two separate blog posts on the off-chance that any readers might feel [...]
director@fasb.orgI've sent my comments to FASB on their two proposals that will dilute fair value reporting. It will take a while before they actually make it to the FASB comment letter webpage, so I'm presenting both here as two separate blog posts on the off-chance that any readers might [...]
Happens frequently, these days.
On Friday, in reference to the FASB's rapid-response turnaround on the two recent proposed fair value FSPs, I bleated:
"They'll have one day to consider the comment letters they receive. How many other proposals have they floated with that kind of deliberation? I'" [...]
On Wednesday, acting Chief Accountant Jim Kroeker testified before the House Committee on Financial Services with regard to the progress being made by the FASB on "fixing" mark-to-market accounting. Some of the points he made are troubling in that they illustrate just how far - and how fast - the [...]
Yesterday the FASB released two exposure drafts that tinker with the edges of fair value reporting. While the Board had planned several fair value improvements projects that encompassed one of them (guidance on determining whether a market for a security is active), the [...]
I tuned in the "mark-to-market" hearing this morning. Your tax dollars at work: Congressman Kanjorski threatened FASB chairman Bob Herz with fixing mark-to-market accounting in three weeks - or else.
Prepare for assimilation. Resistance is futile. The anti-MTM Borg are everywhere.
While all members of Congress present washed [...]
Someone's got to take the fall the markets falling out of bed and the economic turmoil. No managers of financial institutions have been brave enough to step forward and acknowledge that it was their fault. No regulators have been bold enough to say, well, they weren't bold enough as regulators. [...]
It's been a while since I blogged anything - many projects for the day job keep me away from it. Before February slides into the past however, I'd like to share with you a "Tale of Two Cows." It's a fable about suspending mark-to-market accounting... from "Clusterstock," a site' [...]
It's been a while since I blogged anything - many projects for the day job keep me away from it. Before February slides into the past however, I'd like to share with you a "Tale of Two Cows." It's a fable about suspending mark-to-market accounting... from "Clusterstock," a site' [...]
The question Monday was "Will the SEC extend the comment period on the IFRS Roadmap proposal?"
The answer today: yes. In this release, the SEC extends the comment period until April 20.
The question Monday was "Will the SEC extend the comment period on the IFRS Roadmap proposal?"
The answer today: yes. In this release, the SEC extends the comment period until April 20.
The SEC released its "Roadmap" proposal last November, with a deadline for responses of February 19, 2009. It's a meaty proposal: one part deals with allowing companies of a certain size to switch to IFRS reporting from GAAP reporting by the end of 2009, and one part deals with [...]
The SEC released its "Roadmap" proposal last November, with a deadline for responses of February 19, 2009. It's a meaty proposal: one part deals with allowing companies of a certain size to switch to IFRS reporting from GAAP reporting by the end of 2009, and one part deals with [...]
On Christmas Eve, the FASB issued another turbo-proposal on top of its controversial proposal for changing other-than-temporary impairment models for certain financial assets. This proposed FSP No. FAS 107-a, "Disclosures about Certain Financial Assets: An Amendment of FASB Statement No. 107" has a short fuse for comments, almost like [...]
On Christmas Eve, the FASB issued another turbo-proposal on top of its controversial proposal for changing other-than-temporary impairment models for certain financial assets. This proposed FSP No. FAS 107-a, "Disclosures about Certain Financial Assets: An Amendment of FASB Statement No. 107" has a short fuse for comments, almost like [...]
As part of my year-end tidying-up process (which failed again), I started thinking about the things that I used in every workday that I'd come across on the internet - either 1) websites I checked every day because they gave me ideas on better ways to get things done or) [...]
As part of my year-end tidying-up process (which failed again), I started thinking about the things that I used in every workday that I'd come across on the internet - either 1) websites I checked every day because they gave me ideas on better ways to get things done or)' [...]
There's still time to comment on the FASB's rapid-transit amendment of the impairment model embodied in EITF Issue No. 99-20. To put it in a nutshell: the existing rules will require companies having a decline in value for things like lower-rated securitizations, whether held by issuers as a retained [...]
There's still time to comment on the FASB's rapid-transit amendment of the impairment model embodied in EITF Issue No. 99-20. To put it in a nutshell: the existing rules will require companies having a decline in value for things like lower-rated securitizations, whether held by issuers as a retained [...]
The SEC will convene a teleconference today of international securities regulators to "discuss urgent regulatory issues om the ongoing credit crisis."
According to the press release, the technical committee will consider "manipulative short selling" and "under-regulated or unregulated products."
With regard to the first, it will [...]
The SEC will convene a teleconference today of international securities regulators to "discuss urgent regulatory issues om the ongoing credit crisis."
According to the press release, the technical committee will consider "manipulative short selling" and "under-regulated or unregulated products."
With regard to the first, it will [...]
On Friday evening - the day before the G20 summit began in Washington - the SEC released the long-awaited roadmap for converting the United States financial reporting system to International Financial Reporting Standards.
The document will have a 90 day comment period, which will begin ticking [...]
By now, you may have noticed the cheery face on the right-hand side of the webpage. That face belongs to Sandy, your online virtual assistant. I'm not turning this blog into a tech blog (out of my realm), but I think you should meet Sandy. If you're constantly making to-do [...]
The election is over, and the national guessing game has begun about who will be the next Treasury secretary. Of course the attention is focused on the Treasury post: nothing is more urgent than instilling confidence in the financial system at this very moment, if any other post-election promises are to [...]
No trick, maybe all treat for financially distressed homeowners. On Halloween, news spread that JP Morgan Chase would work with homeowners holding about $70 billion of mortgages. While JP Morgan Chase didn't step into the subprime swamp when it was percolating, it inherited a large number of subprime loans [...]
A heads-up: I've written a piece in the Financial Times on standard-setter convergence - and why it's not the good idea that it once was.
It's a subscription-only publication (sorry).
I proposed that the IASB and FASB continue on a path of friendly competition for an indefinite [...]
Last Thursday, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox took his turn on the hot seat before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform United States House of Representatives. His testimony offered some interesting hints about where the SEC might be going - though they're a bit conflicted.
Cox argued that [...]
Take a Chevy Tahoe, add bling, call it a Cadillac Escalade - and GM improves its survival odds if it sells more Escalades than Tahoes.
It's a trick we've all seen for years: take your basic model, extend it a bit here and there, make options standard and presto! [...]
A note on IFRS/GAAP convergence, a subject that's been somewhat in the background these days. In the wake of the credit/liquidity turmoil, the IASB is seeking to overturn a difference in the two sets of standards: today it is considering the adoption of an exception in US GAAP that [...]
Take a moment away from the financial horror show you've been watching for weeks to contemplate an imaginary one: a coal mine disaster. After the dust settles and rescue efforts are mounted, a canary is lowered into the coal mine - and it promptly keels over. What to do?
[...]
On Friday, the Financial Accounting Foundation appointed Marc Siegel, leader of the Accounting Research and Analysis Group at RiskMetrics Group, to take over the board post currently held by George Batavick, who will retire from the FASB.
I've known Marc from our membership on the Investors [...]
From the Angry Bear blog (and soon to be in every American's email inbox):
Dear American:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a
transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic [...]
Much political hay will be made this week over the proposed bailout bill. Could anyone have scripted a more bizarre scenario only a month and a half away from the national election?
While the candidates duke it, figuring which way a position will garner them more votes from the [...]
Last week, PCAOB member Charles Niemeier addressed a New York State Society of CPAs conference. He spoke his mind about the one-sidedness of the movement towards IFRS adoption in these United States. As reported by CFO.com, Charles raised the valid point: moving to IFRS can "put in jeopardy [...]
WebCPA.com reports a survey of 535 accounting professors conducted by the American Accounting Association and KPMG showed that only 22 percent of them intend to incorporate IFRS lessons into their plans for the 2008-9 academic year.
Bad enough - but 62% of them "admitted they [...]
