Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative

I just received an email about TESS:  Time-sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences.  Anyone who is running short experiments should take a look.  They offer access to the general US population (not just students); I am not sure whether it is possible to get access to managers or investors, but hopefully someone will take a [...] Read more > >

Okay, this is supposed to be a blog. I have an opinion on SFAS 165 on subsequent events, transplanted from the auditing domain. But deep down in the opinion is a question… So the new standard (my read) indicates that if information comes to the plate regarding an “event” that existed at the balance [...] Read more > >

With Bob Herz retiring, Leslie Seidman will become the acting chair of the FASB. Webcpa.com recently (but before Herz’s announcement) had an interview with Seidman. While the interview doesn’t offer much new information as far as standards go, it does give the reader a glimpse into her views and background. Read more > >

The first week of classes is often so hectic that harried faculty cannot see many positives from the experience.  I am teaching our introductory PhD seminar, and I find that my attitude is a bit more positive than usual after week one, mainly because of the papers we cover the first week.  This post offers [...] Read more > >

In an surprise announcement, the FAF announced today that FASB chairman, Robert Herz, will retire two years ahead of the end of his term.   FASB board member Leslie Seidman will serve as acting chairman from Oct. 1. A WSJ article reports that “[FAF President Jack] Brennan said in an interview that the decision to step down [...] Read more > >

What’s the point of SEC filings? If someone asks me, “What’s a 10-K?” I’ll tell them it’s a document submitted to the SEC containing the annual financial statements of a company. If pressed, I’ll probably mention the footnotes, MD&A, etc. It’s that “etc.” part that a recent CFO.com article perked my interest about. The article talks [...] Read more > >

okay so this is supposed to be a blog, not a Q&A, but i’m in a quandry. I have always thought, based on a former MBA student Danielle De-Martino, who worked for a company that did factoring .. that most of the time this was done merely to outsource the credit & collection function. [...] Read more > >

A Harvard U evoluntary psychology recently was accused of fabricating data… bad situation of course. One of The University of Texas psychology faculty members wrote about this event; he’s quite smart. He and I overlapped at the University of Illinois in the 1980’s – he in psychology and me, down the street in [...] Read more > >

On Tuesday the FASB released the proposed accounting standard for leases. Comment letters should be sent either to the FASB or the IASB. The boards will jointly consider any comment letters received. So, as it pertains to leases, “speak now or forever hold you peace.” Comment letters are due December 15th. Read more > >

In recent months, it seems I’m seeing an increasing frequency of references to “sustainability reporting,” “integrated reporting,” “triple bottom line,” and other monikers.  In Edith Orenstein’s FEI Financial Reporting Blog this morning, guest author Tom Hood from the Maryland Association of CPAs includes news of the creation of the International Integrated Reporting Committee.  They’ve got a [...] Read more > >

I have to admit, I’m not on Twitter yet. This, however, may be enough to convince me to join. FAF, FASB, and GASB on Twitter. Follow them here. Read more > >

The new Frank-Dodd act on financial reform contains a section creating a Financial Stability Oversight Council, with one of its tasks being the review of (and commenting on) any proposed changes in accounting or auditing standards.  A letter to one of the Council’s member agencies begins as follows: “The American Bankers Association (ABA) respectfully requests that [...] Read more > >

I was just perusing a Moody’s report here on standard adjustments that they make. I was somewhat surprised that they reverse the impact of the changes in a company’s (well in the case of the report i’m reading, a BANK’s) own credit risk on current period gains or losses related to the FV of their own [...] Read more > >

Read through this, get exciting nuggets for your class! Read more > >

Hi everyone, Just last week, I signed up for another CPE session at AAA (recall that I previously posted about FASB/IASB update on Sunday and how you need to be there!!). Anyway, I thought I was going to be goofing off on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco but then my goof-off plans fell through. So i [...] Read more > >

I’ve just finished reading the IASB/FASB exposure draft on revenue recognition, and I have all kinds of questions running through my head. But before I get to those questions, let me first say that I am very impressed with this document. In fewer than 90 paragraphs of guidance (ignoring application guidance), the IASB/FASB have laid [...] Read more > >

Thursday, July 15th there will be a PCAOB Standing Advisory Group (SAG) meeting. It will be broadcast live on the web and then available for podcast later on. From 10:15am – 12:15am ET there will be a presentation on “FASB/IASB projects and Potential Impact on Auditors.” This could be a good opportunity for researchers interested in [...] Read more > >

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is looking for a PhD student who would like to intern with the Office of Research and Analysis (ORA) in the PCAOB’s Washington DC headquarters. This role will provide support to the quantitative economics group in ORA by assisting in studies and analyses conducted by the group.  This may [...] Read more > >

You can look at the 113 page opinion (pdf), or just accept the New York Times’ summary: The court turned aside a broad challenge to one part of the law, which established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to regulate the accounting industry. Some commentators had forecast that the court might throw out the entire law [...] Read more > >

The FASB and IASB released their exposure draft of their proposed revenue recognition standards. From paragraphs IN8 and IN9 of the official document In summary, the core principle [of revenue recognition] would require an entity to recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that [...] Read more > >

Read my post from a few days ago on convertible debt. This topic of hybrids has long seemed like low-hanging fruit to me especially for experimentalists who can create conditions that don’t exist in the real world (which is probably what you would need to do for this topic). Any experimentalists out there who understand [...] Read more > >

FROM FORD MOTOR CO.’s 2009 financials. Convertible Debt Instruments. We adopted the FASB’s new standard on accounting for convertible debt instruments that may be settled in cash upon conversion (including partial cash settlement) on January 1, 2009. The standard specifies that issuers of convertible debt securities that, upon conversion, may be settled in cash [...] Read more > >

This afternoon (1-2:30pm ET) there will be a webcast titled “Private Company Financial Reporting: Time for a new approach?” sponsored by GT and FEI. It sounds like it will be pretty good. You can get more information on it here. Read more > >

I saw today that the “National MAP Survey” is underway. I had never heard of it before, so I thought I would investigate. MAP stands for “Management of an Accounting Practice.” Basically, it is a survey of accounting practices throughout the country, sponsored by the Private Company Practice Section (PCPS) of  the AICPA and the Texas [...] Read more > >

Greg Waymire wrote this obituary for John Dickhaut, which will be forthcoming in Accounting Education News. Please feel free to share your thoughts or reminiscences in the comments. –RJB John Dickhaut passed away April 10, 2010 at his California home following a long and courageous battle with cancer. John was a widely respected member of the [...] Read more > >

We had a financial reporting course coordination meeting today here at UT Austin. We have a concepts course followed by intermediate in all one semester course. We were lamenting on the lack of fair value class / case materials. I have 2 cases that Katherine Schipper wrote for a FASB conference. [...] Read more > >

BANKERS GET OFF EASY… Read more > >

Were you shocked by the title of this post? It comes from a quote by William Isaac, former FDIC chairman. The quote was posted on a recent accountingWEB article that contains the results of an exclusive interview they had with Isaac regarding the FASB proposal to require loans to be carried at fair value. I don’t [...] Read more > >

I couldn’t resist. The title comes from the first line of today’s David Brook’s column in the New York Times. Read more > >

I was busy trying to update my class for the fall here. It seems discontinued operations turn a turn backwards, is that right? Anybody else following this one? Last year, they were trying to make the “thing” (to get technical) that qualifies for discontinued operations treatment be larger than in the past [...] Read more > >