G-20 Conference Provides Cover for the SEC to Issue Its IFRS Roadmap
The trustees of the IASC Foundation (the oversight body of the IASB) have continued to blithely plug IFRS as if it were just an innocent bystander in the global financial crisis. Just days before the G-20 economic conference, the IASC…
Amended IAS 39: Exploding the Myth of an Independent IASB
Although the FASB's record as accounting standard setter is far from spotless, I can't think of a single action taken where the quality of information provided to investors unambiguously diminished. That's what makes the IASB's amendments to IAS 39 so…
Speaking Out Against IFRS Adoption? Welcome to the “Loud Minority”
As I mentioned in a previous post, PCAOB member Charles Niemeier delivered a tour de force critique of U.S. efforts to adopt IFRS, at a recent New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA) educational event. To its credit, the NYSSCPA's…
SFAS 157: Is the Government a “Market Participant”?
Last Thursday, a new reader (who prefers to remain anonymous) wrote: "Have you considered addressing the hotly debated issue of how assets sold into the TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program] will be accounted for by banks, and whether the prices…
Suspending Fair Value: Some Congressmen are Suspending Their Principles
While most politicians in Washington were trying to figure out how to solve the current financial crisis with real cash, my congressman*, John Shadegg (Rep. - Arizona), and a few of his colleagues have been fiddling with accounting rules while Rome burns.…
The Credit Default Swap Mess: Did U.S. GAAP Play a Role?
A member of the AECM listserv reported that today's episode of "60 Minutes" explained that a credit default swap (CDS) "was actually an insurance instrument, and perhaps fraudulently sold as [a] financial instrument to avoid insurance regulations and insurance regulators."…
Fiddling with Fair Value as Rome Burns
If you took a look at the House Bill that went down in flames today, you might have caught Congress fiddling with GAAP as Rome burned. See Section 132 of the bill proposed to empower the SEC to suspend application of FAS…
The Anti-Fair Value Lobby Has a Point (Even if They Don’t Know It)
In the current environment, I am an ardent supporter of those who would resist calls to suspend fair value accounting rules. But, when I was at the SEC, I had a front-row seat on what was perhaps one of the…