In remarks before the IFRS Advisory Council, SEC Chief Accountant Jim Kroeker indicated that the SEC is actively working on a framework for incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards into U.S. reporting requirements. The SEC is expected to issue a report outlining a process for FASB decision making when considering whether to endorse international standards. Mr. Kroeker did not commit to a timetable for the report’s release.
The SEC’s work toward convergence parallels the efforts being made by the IASB and FASB to resolve remaining differences in accounting standards. Currently the Boards are working to reduce differences in classification and measurement models for financial instruments. The Boards’ financial instrument project includes enhancing disclosures about interest rate risk and liquidity, and developing a common approach to impairment of financial assets.
An audio recording of the IFRS Advisory Council’s February 21, 2012 meeting is available at the following site.
http://www.ifrs.org/The+organisation/Advisory+bodies/IFRS+Advisory+Council/Meeting+audio+playback/audio.htm
An article by Mark Zyla entitled The New Qualitative Assessments in Goodwill Impairment Testing May Not Be Simple appeared in the AICPA’s Corporate Finance Insider on February 2, 2012. The article highlights some of the difficulties that entities may encounter when implementing the requirements of ASU 2011-08, Testing Goodwill for Impairment. The Corporate Finance Insider article can be…
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The FASB issued Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment, a Proposed Accounting Standards Update to Topic 350, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other on January 25, 2012. Indefinite-lived intangible assets are those with no discernable legal, contractual, functional or economic life; therefore they are not amortized, but are subject to impairment testing. The exposure draft proposes…
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In recently published inspection reports, the PCAOB noted a wide variety of audit deficiencies relating to fair value measurements (FVM) and disclosures. And, the PCAOB indicated that some of the deficiencies were significant enough to result in audit failures and misstated financial statements. The FVM audit deficiencies can be broadly categorized into those attributable to…
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The PCAOP issued Staff Audit Practice Alert No. 9, Assessing and Responding to Risk in the Current Economic Environment on December 6, 2011, just in time for the annual audit season. The Alert acknowledges that the economic recovery has been slower than anticipated, that global uncertainty has contributed to economic volatility and that economic conditions…
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The AICPA released drafts for two Accounting and Valuation Guides this month, and is soliciting constituent comments on both by March 15, 2012. Testing Goodwill for Impairment provides non-authoritative guidance and illustrations for valuation specialists, preparers of financial statements and independent auditors regarding goodwill impairment testing. It was prepared by the AICPA Impairment Task Force,…
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In its November 2nd Board Meeting, the FASB decided to give entities the option to perform qualitative impairment testing for indefinite-lived intangible assets. If an entity concludes that the intangible assets is not impaired based on a “more likely than not” qualitative assessment of relevant events and circumstances in total, then a quantitative test is…
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Mark Zyla’s article Valuing Contingent Consideration: Challenges and Solutions appears in the November 2011 Journal of Accountancy. It presents highlights from an expert panel’s discussion about contingent consideration, or earn-outs. The article covers issues surrounding earn-outs and provides the valuation community’s suggestions for the best practice approaches to address the issues. It also provides insight…
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Please join Mark Zyla at two upcoming events where he will provide the latest insight about fair value measurement in financial reporting. On November 3rd, Mark will lead the interactive webinar, Advanced Workshop on Valuation Issues Under ASC 805 – Business Combinations. The web workshop will be presented through Business Valuation Resources (BVR) and will…
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The AICPA’s September 2011 issue of FVS Consulting Digest contains the article Fair Value Measurements: Where Are We Now? written by Mark L. Zyla. The article covers the most recent updates to fair value accounting standards, the development of best practice guidance for measuring fair value and the latest practitioner resources. An excerpt of the…
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