There are some definite signs that Mary Schapiro is getting closer to naming her Chief Accountant. For example, I received an email from Denny Beresford, former FASB chair, who was left with the impression from a reporter that an announcement would be…
"Converge" from Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to tend or move toward one point or another: come together: meet to come together and unite in a common interest or focus to approach a limit as the number of terms increases without limit…
I can usually find enough time to write only one post each week. Consequently, much of what I considered to be high-quality fodder is washed away by the exigencies of my real work. This week, however, had too many interesting news items,…
In a recent post on business combinations accounting that is related to SAB 112, I criticized the FASB for creating yet another loophole in business combinations accounting that make M&A transactions more attractive than they really should be. To recap, I described how JP Morgan…
I received an email from the source I previously dubbed Debit Throat, providing some interesting reactions to my previous post on handicapping the chief accountant 'contest.' "I agree [with your odds] – I don't think that Neimeier is [no longer]…
A BNA news article [available by subscription only] reported last week that anonymous sources say that Mary Schapiro has narrowed the candidates for SEC Chief Accountant to five finalists: "Jane Adams, a former deputy chief accountant of the SEC and…
From a MoneyNews.com story published this Wednesday headlined "Banks Stand to Reap Billions from Purchased Bad Loans," came an account of a jaw-dropping transaction. It was spawned by FAS 141(R), the latest and greatest standard on accounting for business combinations:…
In responding to my previous post on contingent liabilities, a few of my kind and sensitive readers raised the following points: Why should there be a difference in the accounting for a law requiring sellers to compensate their customers for…
What the FASB calls "contingent liabilities" in FAS 5, the IASB terms "provisions" in IAS 37. I prefer the IASB's language, because of its pejorative ring to my American ears: it more clearly connotes the virtually unchecked discretion issuers have…
The European Commission sponsored a two-day conference last week entitled "Financial Reporting in a Changing World." I was not invited to speak (J), but if I had been, this is what I would have said: Let's not use this 'changing…