In the good old days, you recognized the assets you owned. For the reasons why things eventually became a lot more complicated than that, there is plenty of blame to go around. Blame the banks and their minions of financial…
I can't cite chapter and verse for this, but experience tells me that there is a cardinal rule for IASB and FASB members that goes something like this: 'If you can't say something nice about board deliberations, then don't say…
I don't watch TV very much, except for sports – lots of sports. I nonetheless tore myself away from ESPN for thirty minutes last week when a friend strongly suggested that I watch an interview of Paul Volcker (former Fed…
If you think you can find a larger wart on the backside of US GAAP than the one I am about to describe, then give it your best shot. Here it is in a nutshell: a careful and cynical application…
Unlike BP, which eventually came to admit the actual rate at which oil has been spurting into the Louisiana Gulf, the FASB and IASB continually resist any acknowledgement that the gulf between the two financial reporting regimes will remain vast, even under…
On the science/entertainment TV show, Mythbusters, a zany cast of characters attempt to smash various colorful or popular myths to smithereens (often literally) using the scientific method (sort of). Can duct tape really be used to float a boat? Which…
Prof. Robert Bloomfield of Cornell University posted an interesting accounting question on the FASRI (FASB Research Initiative) blog. I'm taking the liberty of repeating it here in its entirety: A policy proposal floating around these days is to require banks…
A recurring theme of my blogging is that financial accounting standards could (and should) be much simpler, and also much better if they were simpler. I have also placed some of the blame for the recent lack of progress, especially…
On April 19th, FASB Chair Robert Herz submitted a letter to the House Financial Services Committee, explaining the accounting standards that applied to Lehman's repo transactions. In desperate hope that the Committee will also ask whether and how those repo…
The April issue of CA Magazine, which is published by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, has a lengthy feature article provocatively entitled "IFRS: Dead in the USA?". It author is Lawrence Quinn, a freelance writer based in Atlanta. Thus,…