Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative

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 > >

A recent CFO.com article talks about some pros and cons of the proposed leasing standard (FYI, the article says the exposure draft should come out in June). Having recently finished a couple of financial accounting courses, I’m excited to be done away with the 90% rule, the 75% rule, and the other two rules I [...] Read more > >

A recent Journal of Accountancy article states that the SEC Chief Accountant Jim Kroeker would support the FASB’s cutting the number of convergence projects due for completion in 2011. Here’s one excerpt from that article: “June 30, 2011, is an arbitrary deadline and it’s not one that’s been put in place by the SEC or by [...] Read more > >

I think everyone would agree there are many reasons to enter a lease. However, I think we would all also agree that if the only reason to enter a lease was to obtain a certain accounting treatment then the accounting should be changed. Bill Bosco raised some very interest points related to the leasing industry [...] Read more > >

Thanks to everyone who participated in yesterday’s Round Table event. We had a great discussion about leasing. You can watch the video above. To skip the splash screen, scroll forward to 13:25. There is a brief problem with the sound until minute 14, but things are fine after that. I think a big take-away from the [...] Read more > >

The great thing about people who represent an industry being affected by an accounting standard is that they are highly motivated to provide content.  Bill Bosco sent me a number of files for this week’s Roundtable.  The ELFA comment letter on leasing discusses both lessor and lessee accounting, and objects strongly to the notion that [...] Read more > >

Bill Bosco, who will be our speaker at today’s Roundtable, sent along the text of his comment letter on leasing to the IASB.  Here it is, in its entirety: Sir David Tweedie                                                                              July 12, 2009 Chairman IASB Dear Sir: I support the theory that operating lease obligations arising from material operating leases should be capitalized.  The issue of capitalizing operating [...] Read more > >

The FASRI Roundtable this week (11am ET, Weds Mar 31, 2010) will be lead by Bill Bosco, a member of the IASB/FASB International Working Group on leas accounting, Principal of Leasing101, and long time member of the Accounting committee of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), a trade association representing the $650 billion dollar [...] Read more > >

To what extent do lenders or credit analysts care about lease renewal options? In the proposed lease accounting model, lessees will capitalize the longest lease term that is more likely than not to occur. This means that renewal periods that a lessee is not obligated to renew will be measured as part of the lease [...] Read more > >

How often do we get to use big esoteric words from philosophy when we are talking about accounting standards?  Not often enough! Usually, the only philosophical terms we use are ‘normative’ and ‘positive,’ and I think many of us are pretty comfortable with the notion that standard setters are trying to answer normative questions (what should [...] Read more > >

We have already had a couple great posts on the FASB/IASB Financial Reporting Issues Conference by Ray and Rob.  I’d like to add a comment on something that struck me over the weekend. One of the important issues in revenue recognition is the question of whether a company is providing a good or service in return [...] Read more > >

One issue that came up repeatedly for me at this weekend’s FASB-IASB reporting issues conference was that of the apparent clash between the objective to provide relevant information through financial reports and the objective to maintain consistency with the conceptual framework’s definitions of assets and liabilities. An example illustrates the nature of the problem: consider a [...] Read more > >

For most of this decade, the Financial Reporting Issues Conference has been my favorite accounting event of the year.  Taking a Bayesian perspective, I also view it as the most informative:  every year, what I learn changes my beliefs more than any other conference. I will be writing some posts about the substance of the conference, [...] Read more > >

In their joint meeting in Norwalk, Connecticut this past week, the IASB and FASB reached the tentative conclusion that lessors will no longer derecognize leased assets. Instead, lessors will recognize a receivable and a performance obligation with revenue being recognized over time. Some think this approach is more consistent with the proposed new revenue recognition [...] 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 > >

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 > >

The issue of accounting for contingent rentals was a big part of the recent research brainstorming session on leasing.  I think that academics may have something to offer the FASB and others related to accounting for contingent rentals.  In particular, what can economic/finance theory tell us about the desirability of capitalizing expected contingent rentals? One of [...] Read more > >

We had a very interesting session yesterday to brainstorm ideas on leasing.  Thanks to another doctoral student for summarizing key parts of the discussion.  –RJB Despite the loss of power of our campus 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the office hour and the rush to set up everything on our backup battery, I, along [...] Read more > >

This week, office hours (Tue, June 2nd, 4pm ET) will consist of something a bit different.  In particular, I want to see if we can have an interactive session involving bouncing research ideas off of each other.  This is one of the types of sessions that we discussed during May 19th office hours. How can we [...] Read more > >

On Wed, March 4th, we will be joined (once more) by Danielle Zeyher, FASB Project Manager of the joint FASB/IASB leasing project.  In addition to getting an update on the status of the project, we will also have an open discussion of the extent to which academic research can inform standard setters.  As a springboard [...] Read more > >