Kudos to The Economist for summarizing in slightly more than one-third of a page the critical issues that will determine the future of financial reporting. Leading off: "Despite the departures of Sir David [Tweedie, IASB] and Mr Herz [Robert, FASB],…
The IASB and FASB jointly announced the completion of the first stage of their joint conceptual framework project this week. The eight-phase project was begun almost exactly seven years ago, and the first stage has just now been 'finalized.' For…
A couple of weeks ago, I concocted a cautionary tale for undergraduate students out of Proposed ASU No. EITF100F, which dealt with the accounting for a health insurer's legal costs arising from malpractice cases. If you are looking for a…
GM's recent filing of its registration statement with the SEC represents the collision of two topics I have written about. First, the fortuitous arrival of $30.2 billion of "goodwill" on GM's balance sheet so soon after the company crammed a…
If you are teaching an accounting class, here's a simple and timely (I'll explain why, later) assignment for your students: Facts: Company XYZ is a manufacturer that is being sued by a person claiming that she was injured from using…
This is one thing of which I am certain: If finalized, the fair value provisions of the FASB's financial instruments exposure draft (file no 1810-100) would be the most significant change to financial reporting since the founding of the FASB…
According to the American Bankers Association's August 5th letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the banking industry will be fundamentally changed if the FASB were to require banks to account for its loans at fair value. Everybody who thinks that…
Not only does General Motors' CEO, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., want to take GM public ASAP, he is asking the federal government to sell its $50 billion (!) stake at the same time. That's all well and good, but I…
In researching an IFRS question recently, I stumbled across a whole new (for me) source of stealth guidance put out by the IASB's International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC). I am referring to official descriptions of issues that were presented to IFRIC,…
When I started my blog almost exactly 3 years ago now, my opening strategy was to work down a rather limited personal inventory of pet peeves. I wanted to stay above the fray, but that proved impossible. I soon became hopelessly…