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Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
February 4-8, 2008
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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:

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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

Fair Value Measurements/Investment Companies -- FASB to Change Certain Provisions in Statement 157 and Indefinitely Defer SOP 07-1
Fair Value Measurements -- Minutes of Valuation Resource Group Meeting
Revenue Recognition -- FASB Discusses Revenue Recognition and Other Matters at January 30, 2008 Meeting
Internal Control Reporting -- SEC Proposes One-Year Deferral of Section 404 Attestation Report Requirement for Smaller Public Companies
Internal Control Reporting -- SEC Begins Cost-Benefit Study of Section 404 Attestation Report Requirement
Securities Registration -- SEC Mandates Electronic Filing of Form D
International Financial Reporting -- IASB Issues Agenda for the Standards Advisory Council (SAC) Meeting on February 14-15, 2008

Auditing and Internal Controls Headlines

Investment Companies -- FASB to Indefinitely Defer SOP 07-1
Internal Control Reporting -- SEC Proposes One-Year Deferral of Section 404 Attestation Report Requirement for Smaller Public Companies
Internal Control Reporting -- SEC Begins Cost-Benefit Study of Section 404 Attestation Report Requirement

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ACCOUNTING AND SEC HEADLINES:
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Fair Value Measurements/Investment Companies -- FASB to Change Certain Provisions in Statement 157 and Indefinitely Defer SOP 07-1
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

We have published a hot topic that discusses the FASB's decision to make certain changes to provisions in FASB Statement No. 157, Fair Value Measurements. Specifically, the FASB agreed:

-To defer the effective date in Statement 157 for one year for certain nonfinancial assets and nonfinancial liabilities, except those that are recognized or disclosed at fair value in the financial statements on a recurring basis (at least annually).
-To exclude certain leasing transactions accounted for under FASB Statement No. 13, Accounting for Leases, from the scope of Statement 157. The exclusion does not apply to fair value measurements of assets and liabilities recorded as a result of a lease transaction but measured pursuant to other pronouncements within the scope of Statement 157.
-Companies will still need to apply the recognition and disclosure provisions of Statement 157 for financial assets and financial liabilities and for nonfinancial assets and nonfinancial liabilities that are remeasured at least annually.

In addition, as noted in our hot topic, the FASB also decided that it would indefinitely defer the effective date in AICPA Statement of Position (SOP) 07-1, Clarification of the Scope of the Audit and Accounting Guide "Investment Companies" and Accounting by Parent Companies and Equity Method Investors for Investments in Investment Companies.

See our hot topic for complete details.

Fair Value Measurements -- Minutes of Valuation Resource Group Meeting
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

We have added minutes of the February 1, 2008 meeting of the Valuation Resource Group (VRG). The FASB established the VRG to provide the FASB with input on potential clarifying guidance on issues relating to the application of Statement 157. At the February 1, 2008 meeting, the VRG discussed the following topics:

-Accounting for Assets That the Acquirer Does Not Intend to Use or Intends to Use in a Way Other Than Its Highest and Best Use;
-Customer Relationships;
-Valuation of Intangible Assets Using "Current Replacement Cost";
-Meaning of Legally Permissible in Assessing Highest and Best Use;
-Fair Value of Inventory;
-Allocation of Portfolio Based Credit Adjustments for Hedge Effectiveness Testing; and
-Proposed FASB Staff Position (FSP) FAS 157-c, "Measuring Liabilities under FASB Statement No. 157."

Refer to the minutes for complete details.

Revenue Recognition -- FASB Discusses Revenue Recognition and Other Matters at January 30, 2008 Meeting
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

As reported in its "Action Alert" publication, the FASB met on January 30, 2008, and discussed the following issues:

-Revenue recognition;
-Financial guarantee insurance; and
-Agenda decision: relief from FASB Statement No. 114, Accounting by Creditors for Impairment of a Loan.

The FASB continued discussing its revenue recognition project, with a focus on the "customer consideration" model. In the customer consideration model, an entity accounts for the contract asset or liability that arises from the rights and performance obligations in an enforceable contract with a customer. The FASB generally agreed:

-Measurement issues exist in both the measurement model and the customer consideration model, but the FASB seemed more comfortable with those issues in the customer consideration model.
-The preliminary definition of "performance obligations" is promising, but further testing of this definition on other examples is necessary.
-A simplifying assumption might help determine when an enforceable right to good transfers to a customer. Specifically, the FASB agreed that any time an entity is delivering both a good and services that will incorporate that good, it might be helpful to assume that the good transfers when it is used unless the language in the contract or the operation of law indicates that the customer has the enforceable right or access to the good once it is delivered.

The Action Alert also indicates that the FASB is scheduled to have a meeting on February 13, 2008, and plans to address the following projects or topics:

-Agenda decision: financial reporting by entities in reorganization under the bankruptcy code; and
-Disclosures about plan assets (proposal amendments and FASB Statement No. 132(Revised 2003), Employers' Disclosures about Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits).

Of particular interest, the FASB will discuss whether to add a project to its agenda to consider the potential conflict between AICPA Statement of Position 90-7, Financial Reporting by Entities in Reorganization Under the Bankruptcy Code, which requires early adoption of new accounting standards and other authoritative accounting standards that expressly prohibit early adoption.

Internal Control Reporting -- SEC Proposes One-Year Deferral of Section 404 Attestation Report Requirement for Smaller Public Companies
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

The SEC published for public comment a proposed rule, Internal Control over Financial Reporting in Exchange Act Periodic Reports of Non-Accelerated Filers. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) requires both an assessment by management of internal controls over financial reporting and an attestation report on management's assessment by the registrant's external auditor. The proposal would provide a one-year deferral for compliance with the auditor attestation report requirement for audits of public companies with a public float under $75 million until the audits for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2009. The assessment requirement by management is not being deferred.

Comments on the proposal are due 30 days after date of publication in the Federal Register.

Internal Control Reporting -- SEC Begins Cost-Benefit Study of Section 404 Attestation Report Requirement
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

We have published a hot topic that discusses the SEC's announcement that its staff has begun a small business cost-benefit study of the auditor attestation requirement in Section 404(b) of SOX. The study plans to collect and analyze cost and benefit data from a broad array of registrants currently complying with Section 404 under the recently issued interpretive guidance from the SEC for companies and auditors. To provide adequate time for completion of the study, the SEC announced (see above) a one-year deferral for compliance with the auditor attestation report requirement under Section 404(b) for smaller companies.

See our hot topic for complete details.

Securities Registration -- SEC Mandates Electronic Filing of Form D
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

The SEC has issued a final rule, Electronic Filing and Revision of Form D. The rule mandates the electronic filing of information required by Form D via the internet through a new online filing system. Form D serves as the official notice of a securities offering made without registration in reliance on Regulation D, which provides for certain exemptions from registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933. In addition, the rule contains revisions to Form D and Regulation D intended to simplify the burden on registrants filing out the form, while providing more access to Form D information to the public.

The rule is generally effective September 15, 2008, however the rule provides for the phasing-in of mandatory electronic filing of Form D. The rule includes several exceptions to the general effective date that will enable registrants to file the information required by Form D in electronic or paper format from September 15, 2008 until March 16, 2009 when electronic filing becomes mandatory.

Readers that may rely on the exemption in Regulation D should consult the text of the final rule for compete details.

International Financial Reporting -- IASB Issues Agenda for the Standards Advisory Council (SAC) Meeting on February 14-15, 2008
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

The IASB has issued the agenda for the SAC's February 14-15, 2008 meeting when it is scheduled to discuss the following projects or topics:

-SAC Chairman Update;
-Discussion of IASB work program;
-Proposed IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities;
-Distinction between Equity and Liabilities;
-Financial instruments;
-Post-employment benefits; and
-Address by Gerrit Zalm, Chairman of IASC Foundation Trustees.

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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Investment Companies -- FASB to Indefinitely Defer SOP 07-1
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

As discussed above in our Accounting and SEC Summaries, we have published a hot topic that discusses the FASB's decision to indefinitely defer the effective date in AICPA Statement of Position (SOP) 07-1, Clarification of the Scope of the Audit and Accounting Guide "Investment Companies" and Accounting by Parent Companies and Equity Method Investors for Investments in Investment Companies.

See our hot topic for complete details.

Internal Control Reporting -- SEC Proposes One-Year Deferral of Section 404 Attestation Report Requirement for Smaller Public Companies
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

As discussed above in our Accounting and SEC Summaries, the SEC published for public comment a proposed rule, Internal Control over Financial Reporting in Exchange Act Periodic Reports of Non-Accelerated Filers. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) requires both an assessment by management of internal controls over financial reporting and an attestation report on management's assessment by the registrant's external auditor. The proposal would provide a one-year deferral for compliance with the auditor attestation report requirement for audits of public companies with a public float under $75 million until the audits for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2009.

Comments on the proposal are due 30 days after date of publication in the Federal Register.

Internal Control Reporting -- SEC Begins Cost-Benefit Study of Section 404 Attestation Report Requirement
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

As discussed above in our Accounting and SEC Summaries, we have published a hot topic that discusses the SEC's announcement that its staff has begun a small business cost-benefit study of the auditor attestation requirement in Section 404(b) of SOX. The study plans to collect and analyze cost and benefit data from a broad array of registrants currently complying with Section 404 under the recently issued interpretive guidance from the SEC for companies and auditors. To provide adequate time for completion of the study, the SEC announced (see above) a one-year deferral for compliance with the auditor attestation report requirement under Section 404 for smaller companies.

See our hot topic for complete details.

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