Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative

The AAA Financial Accounting Standards Committee (FASC) recently submitted a comment letter in response to the FASB/IASB’s discussion paper on revenue recognition. This letter is unusual because it is one of few (if any others) that draw on existing academic research to support its arguments. In that regard, the FASC has provided a useful service [...] Read more > >

Securitization certainly seem to be a hot topic!  We had a big turnout for yesterday’s Round Table Discussion, with over 20 people coming in-world for the discussion and even more than that streaming the event live from the web.  I think people were hoping to hear lots of informative and stimulating discussion and, if they [...] Read more > >

Don’t forget that Tuesday, July 28th, 4pm ET Cathy Shakespeare will be joining us to lead a RoundTable discussion on securitization.  We will also be joined by Akwasi Ampofo, project manager for the Joint Project of the FASB and IASB called “Financial Instruments:  Improvements to Recognition and Measurement.” You can join us in Second Life (info [...] Read more > >

Please Don't Do This To Us! I am not sure faculty ever face a more challenging environment for presenting a paper than the AAA concurrent sessions.  You have 15 or 20 minutes to convey months or years of technical work to a diverse audience — some of them know more about the topic than you do, [...] Read more > >

We had an excellent discussion today with Bob Laux of Microsoft. Whether you are looking for research topics or good stories for your students–financial or managerial–you will find this a very interesting discussion. You can now watch the archive live by going here, waiting through a 15 second commercial, and then clicking the [...] Read more > >

The blogosphere is ablaze with reactions to an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about Securitization.  In light of the upcoming roundtable on securitization with Cathy Shakespeare next Tuesday, I thought I would point people toward one of the more interesting perspectives, on the legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy, and related articles on whether financial [...] Read more > >

As previously announced, we will be having our first Round Table Discussion hosted by a preparer this week when Bob Laux (Microsoft) joins us on Wednesday at 11 am ET.  Given Bob’s wide-ranging interests and expertise, Wednesday’s discussion promises to be engaging and informative! As if there weren’t already enough to discuss given Bob’s tentative agenda, [...] Read more > >

A short article from the Economist serves as an introduction to two other articles.  The intro has a long comment section.  It’s definitely worth a look.  A sample: The charge that most economists failed to see the crisis coming also has merit. To be sure, some warned of trouble. The likes of Robert Shiller of Yale, [...] Read more > >

Following up on Lisa’s post, I see that the FASB has summarized the key conclusions of this week’s Board meeting: The Board agreed to propose a model to improve financial reporting for financial instruments.   The Board reached the following decisions: The Board agreed to propose that all financial instruments will be presented on the balance sheet at [...] Read more > >

No Top Financial Bloggers Hail From Accounting Departments....Yet The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the top economics blogs. If you don’t read many blogs, you should definitely read the article and navigate along to the websites.  They even provide a listing of 30 recommended econ/finance blogs. That said, I would like to emphasize that the [...] Read more > >

I received a David Zion, Amit Varshney, and Chris Cornett report earlier today (Credit Suisse). They say, among other things, that the FASB just held its first board meeting to discuss overhauling the accounting for financial instruments. They claim that although there’s still a long way to go, it looks like the FASB could be making [...] Read more > >

On Tuesday, July 28th, 4pm ET, Cathy Shakespeare will lead a discussion on securitization.  Cathy will start by giving us a gentle introduction to this complex commercial arrangement, and then use recent research to indicate directions for future work.  To get insights into one of the most central issues in securitization you might start with [...] Read more > >

Details on participation are here. On Wednesday, July 22nd, 11am ET, we will get a preparer’s perspective on the state and future of financial reporting standards from Bob Laux, Senior Director of Financial Accounting and Reporting at Microsoft.  Mr. Laux is responsible for Microsoft’s financial accounting, including  responding to GAAP questions and issues within Microsoft and [...] Read more > >

Researchers and Standard Setters At An Early Round Table Discussion (Photo Courtesy of HistoricalNames.com) I am glad to announce a number of changes in our online meetings, starting with the name. Name Change What had been called “Office Hours” are now “Round Table Discussions”.  We feel the name better reflects the nature of the interaction, which blends [...] Read more > >

Since June 1, 2008, I’ve had the honor and privilege of serving as an editor of The Accounting Review. In this role, I get to see a lot of papers in the financial-archival area, although there are four other editors plus senior editor Steve Kachelmeier also looking at papers in this area, so I [...] Read more > >

Felix Salmon of Reuters has written a very interesting article about the nature of blogging.  It is directed at journalists, not researchers, so it isn’t exactly on point.  But if you are interested in contributing to our blog, it is worth a look. This point in particular gets at one of the more uncomfortable parts of [...] Read more > >

We just confirmed a couple of great sessions for office hours: Next week we get a preparer’s perspective on standard setting, from Bob Laux, Senior Director of Financial Accounting and Reporting at Microsoft.  Wednesday, July 22, 11am ET. The following week, Cathy Shakespeare leads a discussion on research opportunities in securitization–but first, she will help us understand [...] Read more > >

Office Hours next week will feature a conversation with Anthony Hopwood about what the financial crisis means for accounting (and finance) researchers.  We will be changing our schedule a little bit:  the session will be at 11am ET, Tuesday, July 14th. Information about getting to the session can be found here. Anthony has a most impressive [...] Read more > >

The FASB announced today the addition of a disclosure framework project to their agenda.  The addition of the project appears to be motivated by feedback the Board received the ITAC and CIFR committees. In today’s press release, Chairman Bob Herz said: “Many constituents have expressed concerns about so-called ‘disclosure overload.’  While clear and robust disclosures are essential [...] Read more > >

Cathy Shakespeare sent me this link as we’re finishing off a paper (with Karen Nelson) on fair value. Some are jaw breakers. Good stuff. Read more > >