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Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
December 10-14, 2007
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Accounting Research Manager subscriber,
The Accounting Research Manager database now contains this week's weekly summary of developments. Click the link below to access and print the fully-formatted Weekly Summary:
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
If you do not have immediate Internet access to the Accounting Research Manager database, below is the text of this week's Weekly Summary.
Accounting and SEC Headlines
SEC and PCAOB Activities -- 2007 AICPA Year-End SEC and PCAOB Conference
EITF Decisions -- FASB Ratifies EITF Final Consensuses and Consensus-for-Exposure
Oil and Gas Reserves -- SEC Concept Release on Possible Revisions to Oil and Gas Reserves Disclosure
Off-Balance Sheet Entities -- SEC Issues Sample Letter on Disclosures for Public Companies With Investments in Certain Off Balance Sheet Entities
Fair Value -- PCAOB Issues Alert on Auditing Fair Value Measurements of Financial Instruments and Use of Specialists
Statement 133 Implementation Issues -- FASB Updates DIG Issue
Share-based Payments -- IASB Issues Exposure Draft on Group Cash-Settled Share-based Payments
Investments -- IASB Issues Exposure Draft to Account for Investment in Subsidiary, Jointly Controlled Entity or Associate
Auditing and Internal Controls Headlines
Audit Procedures -- Updated Guidance Released
Fair Value -- PCAOB Issues Alert on Auditing Fair Value Measurements of Financial Instruments and Use of Specialists
PCAOB Inspections -- Report on Inspections of Domestic Triennially Inspected Firms Summarized
Government Headlines
Government-Wide Financial Statements -- Common Financial Reporting Deficiencies Addressed
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ACCOUNTING AND SEC HEADLINES:
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SEC and PCAOB Activities -- 2007 AICPA Year-End SEC and PCAOB Conference
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
We have added an Overview of the 2007 AICPA Year-End SEC and PCAOB Conference held on December 10-12, 2007, in Washington, D.C. The increasing complexity of financial reporting, growing acceptability of international accounting standards and the challenging issues presented by the current subprime crisis were the principal topics for 2007. Other major topics covered at the conference included:
-Current issues related to management and auditor reporting on internal controls over financial reporting (so-called Section 404 reporting);
-eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) reporting;
-FASB Codification Project; and
-Recently issued accounting standards on fair value measurements and business combinations.
See our Literature Update for compete details.
EITF Decisions -- FASB Ratifies EITF Final Consensuses and Consensus-for-Exposure
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
We have prepared a Hot Topic that documents the FASB's ratification of decisions made by the EITF at its November 29, 2007 meeting. Specifically, the FASB ratified the final consensuses reached in EITF Issue No. 07-1, "Accounting for Collaborative Arrangements," and EITF Issue No. 07-6, "Accounting for the Sale of Real Estate Subject to the Requirements of FASB Statement No. 66, Accounting for Sales of Real Estate, When the Agreement Includes a Buy-Sell Clause." Also the FASB ratified the consensus-for-exposure reached in EITF Issue No. 07-4, "Application of the Two-Class Method under FASB Statement No. 128, Earnings per Share, to Master Limited Partnerships."
See our Hot Topic for complete details.
Oil and Gas Reserves -- SEC Concept Release on Possible Revisions to Oil and Gas Reserves Disclosure
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
The SEC has issued a Concept Release (CR), Possible Revisions to the Disclosure Requirements Relating to Oil and Gas Reserves. The SEC is issuing this CR to obtain information about the extent and nature of the public's interest in revising oil and gas reserves disclosure requirements. The current oil and gas reserves disclosure requirements were adopted prior to many of the significant changes that have occurred in the oil and gas industries.
Comments on the CR are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Off-Balance Sheet Entities -- SEC Issues Sample Letter on Disclosures for Public Companies With Investments in Certain Off Balance Sheet Entities
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
The SEC has published a sample letter, "Public Companies That Have Identified Investments in Structured Investment Vehicles, Conduits or Collateralized Debt Obligations (Off-balance Sheet Entities)." The letter identifies a number of disclosure issues that registrants may want to consider in preparing Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) for their upcoming annual reports on Form 10-K or 20-F. Specifically, the letter identifies a number of items that may have to be disclosed about off-balance sheet nonconsolidated conduits and collateralized debt obligations as required under Item 303(a)(4) of Regulation S-K.
Fair Value -- PCAOB Issues Alert on Auditing Fair Value Measurements of Financial Instruments and Use of Specialists
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
The PCAOB has issued Staff Audit Practice Alert No. 2, Matters Related to Auditing Fair Value Measurements of Financial Instruments and the Use of Specialists. The purpose of this Alert is to remind auditors of their responsibilities when auditing fair value measurements of financial instruments and when using the work of specialists. The Alert includes guidance in the following four broad areas:
-Auditing fair value measurements;
-Classification within the fair value hierarchy of FASB Statement No. 157, Fair Value Measurements;
-Using the work of specialists; and
-Use of a pricing service.
Statement 133 Implementation Issues -- FASB Updates DIG Issue
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The FASB has revised guidance on Derivative Implementation Group (DIG) Issue E15, "Continuing the Shortcut Method after a Purchase Business Combination" for the issuance of FASB Statement No. 141 (Revised 2007), Business Combinations.In general, the changes remove references to the purchase method of accounting for a business combination.
Share-based Payments -- IASB Issues Exposure Draft on Group Cash-Settled Share-based Payments
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
The IASB issued an Exposure Draft (ED), Group Cash-Settled Share-based Payment Transactions. This ED would amend both IFRS 2, Share-based Payment and IFRIC 11, IFRS 2 - Group and Treasury Share Transactions, to specify the accounting by the entity that receives goods or services from its suppliers (including employees) for similar arrangements that are share-based and cash-settled. Under the ED, an entity that receives goods or services from its suppliers must apply IFRS 2 even though the entity has no obligation to make the required share-based cash payments.
Comments on the ED are due March 17, 2008.
Investments -- IASB Issues Exposure Draft to Account for Investment in Subsidiary, Jointly Controlled Entity or Associate
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The IASB issued an Exposure Draft (ED), Cost of an Investment in a Subsidiary, Jointly Controlled Entity or Associate. This ED expands the scope of an exposure draft that had been previously issued and limited to subsidiaries only. Specifically, this ED proposes to allow an entity, at its date of transition to IFRS in separate financial statements, to use a deemed cost to account for an investment in a subsidiary, jointly controlled entity or associate. Under the ED, an entity may choose as its deemed cost either the fair value or the previous GAAP carrying amount of the investment at the entity's date of transition to IFRSs.
Comments on the ED are due February 26, 2008.
Some of the documents listed above may not be accessible under your current subscription. For information about upgrading your subscription to include additional content, click here:
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
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AUDITING AND INTERNAL CONTROLS HEADLINES:
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Audit Procedures -- Updated Guidance Released
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
We have published the 2008 edition of Audit Procedures. The primary objective of Audit Procedures is to show practitioners the most effective approach for conducting high-quality audits of nonpublic commercial entities. This publication provides practical discussion and consideration of the day-to-day management of audit engagements, featuring various audit efficiency, effectiveness, and cost-saving measures and numerous practice aids - checklists, questionnaires, workpapers, sample correspondence, and sample auditor's reports - to take the practitioner through an engagement from the initial evaluation of a client to the issuance of the auditor's report. Special practice aids integrating the new Knowledge-Based Audit methodology are also available on ARM.
In addition, Audit Procedures includes coverage of the PCAOB's final auditing standards. The discussion, illustrations, and examples (e.g., auditor's reports) included within the publication have been updated, where applicable, to incorporate the guidance and requirements of the PCAOB.
Fair Value -- PCAOB Issues Alert on Auditing Fair Value Measurements of Financial Instruments and Use of Specialists
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
As discussed above in our Accounting and SEC Summaries, the PCAOB has issued Staff Audit Practice Alert No. 2, Matters Related to Auditing Fair Value Measurements of Financial Instruments and the Use of Specialists. The purpose of this Alert is to remind auditors of their responsibilities when auditing fair value measurements of financial instruments and when using the work of specialists. The Alert includes guidance in the following four broad areas:
-Auditing fair value measurements;
-Classification within the fair value hierarchy of FASB Statement No. 157, Fair Value Measurements;
-Using the work of specialists; and
-Use of a pricing service.
PCAOB Inspections -- Report on Inspections of Domestic Triennially Inspected Firms Summarized
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
We have added a GAAS Update Service that provides discussion and analysis of findings and issues identified in the course of the PCAOB's 2004 through 2006 inspections of registered U.S. public accounting firms subject to triennial inspections that audited 100 or fewer public companies. The PCAOB inspection report is not a comprehensive all-inclusive list of all the deficiencies identified. Rather, it includes descriptions of significant or frequent deficiencies that the Board believes deserve emphasis in a general public report. Specifically, the PCAOB inspection report includes the following eleven areas where auditing or quality-control deficiencies were observed:
-Revenue;
-Related-party transactions;
-Equity transactions;
-Business combinations and impairment of assets;
-Going-concern considerations;
-Loans and accounts receivable, including allowance accounts;
-Service organizations;
-Use of other auditors;
-Using the work of specialists;
-Independence, including: prohibited non-audit services; indemnification; and firm independence policies and procedures and independence confirmation with audit committees; and
-Concurring partner review.
Some of the documents listed above may not be accessible under your current subscription. For information about upgrading your subscription to include additional content, click here:
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
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GOVERNMENT HEADLINES:
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Government-Wide Financial Statements -- Common Financial Reporting Deficiencies Addressed
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com
We have added a Governmental GAAP Update Service that explores the most common financial reporting deficiencies found in the annual reports of state and local governments as identified by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting program. The objective of the annual review by GFOA is to identify common deficiencies in order to better prepare financial statement preparers for the annual financial reporting process. This update relates common reporting deficiencies associated with the government-wide statement of net assets and the statement of activities presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
Some of the documents listed above may not be accessible under your current subscription. For information about upgrading your subscription to include additional content, click here:
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com