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Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
March 24-28, 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:

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

EITF Decisions -- FASB Ratifies March 12, 2008 EITF Decisions
Financial Assets and Liabilities -- Interpretations of Statement 140 Published
Transfers of Financial Assets -- FASB to Discuss Derecognition Criteria Under Statement 140 and Other Matters
International Financial Reporting -- Q&A for Foreign Private Issuers Published by the International Practices Task Force
Employee Benefits -- IASB Issues Discussion Paper on Preliminary Views on Amendments to IAS 19

Auditing and Internal Controls Headlines

Auditing Fair Value Measurements and the Use of Specialists -- PCAOB Interpretive Guidance Discussed

Government Headlines

Fund Balance Accounting -- GASB Exposure Draft on Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Funds Definitions Discussed

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ACCOUNTING AND SEC HEADLINES:
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EITF Decisions -- FASB Ratifies March 12, 2008 EITF Decisions
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

We have prepared a Hot Topic that discusses the FASB's ratification of decisions made by the EITF at its March 12, 2008 meeting. Specifically, the FASB ratified the final consensus 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." In addition, the FASB ratified the following consensuses-for-exposure:

-EITF Issue No. 07-5, "Determining Whether an Instrument (or Embedded Feature) Is Indexed to an Entity's Own Stock";
-EITF Issue No. 08-3, "Accounting by Lessees for Nonrefundable Maintenance Deposits"; and
-EITF Issue No. 08-4, "Transition Guidance for Conforming Changes to Issue No. 98-5, 'Accounting for Convertible Securities with Beneficial Conversion Features or Contingently Adjustable Conversion Ratios.'"

Issue 08-4 was discussed at the EITF's March 12, 2008 meeting in the context of potential revisions to Issue 98-5 as a result of the guidance in EITF Issue No. 00-27, "Application of EITF Issue No. 98-5, 'Accounting for Convertible Securities with Beneficial Conversion Features or Contingently Adjustable Conversion Ratios,' to Certain Convertible Instruments," and FASB Statement No. 150, Accounting for Certain Financial Instruments with Characteristics of both Liabilities and Equity. However, it was not assigned an issue number when the EITF discussed the merits of the revisions until this FASB ratification-for-exposure process. The FASB staff developed this issue as a means to expose the transition guidance for the conforming changes agreed to by the EITF without exposing Issue 98-5, as amended, in its entirety.

See our Hot Topic for complete details.

Financial Assets and Liabilities -- Interpretations of Statement 140 Published
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We have published a Literature Update discussing an update to our publication, Financial Assets and Liabilities - Sales, Transfers, and Extinguishments: Interpretations of FASB Statement 140. Specific updates include the following:

-Updated Interpretation 1-3, "Effect of Statement 157 on Statement 140," to reflect the FASB's deferral of certain portions of that pronouncement through the issuance of FASB Staff Position (FSP) FAS 157-2, Effective Date of FASB Statement No. 157.
-Revised the "Recent Developments" section for recent deliberations at the FASB on a variety of relevant projects.
-Incorporated comments by the SEC staff at the 2007 AICPA National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments, including guidance on: (a) measurement of loans receivable; (b) impairments of financial assets; and (c) defaults that are reasonably foreseeable for certain subprime adjustable rate mortgages.
-Updated certain cross-references to reflect the issuance of FASB Statement No. 141 (Revised 2007), Business Combinations.

See our Literature Update for complete details.

Transfers of Financial Assets -- FASB to Discuss Derecognition Criteria Under Statement 140 and Other Matters
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

As reported in its "Action Alert" publication, the FASB is scheduled to meet on April 2, 2008 to discuss proposed amendments to the derecognition criteria in paragraph 9 of FASB Statement No. 140, Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities. The FASB will discuss whether to eliminate the accounting significance of qualifying special-purpose entities.

As also indicated in its Action Alert publication, the FASB met on March 19, 2008 and discussed comments received on FASB Staff Position (FSP) FAS 142-f, Determination of the Useful Life of Intangible Assets. The FASB decided that the final version of this FSP should:

-Include two examples to illustrate the principles in the FSP.
-Reinforce the existing disclosure requirements of AICPA Statement of Position (SOP) 94-6, Disclosure of Certain Significant Risks and Uncertainties.
-Apply prospectively the provisions on determining useful life to intangible assets acquired after the effective date. The disclosure requirements of the final FSP should be applied prospectively to intangible assets recognized as of and subsequent to the effective date.
-Only include disclosures of: (a) the weighted-average period prior to the next renewal or extension; (b) the entity's accounting policy on the treatment of costs incurred to renew or extend the term of a recognized intangible asset; and (c) the amount of costs incurred to renew or extend the term of a recognized intangible asset that have been capitalized into the carrying amount of a recognized intangible asset.

As proposed, the FSP would be effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2008, and interim periods within those fiscal years.

International Financial Reporting -- Q&A for Foreign Private Issuers Published by the International Practices Task Force
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The AICPA's SEC International Practices Task Force has published highlights of its March 4, 2008 teleconference. The meeting highlights include a question and answer (Q&A) implementation document for Foreign Private Issuers (FPIs) on the SEC's final rule, Acceptance from Foreign Private Issuers of Financial Statements Prepared in Accordance with IFRS Without Reconciliation to U.S. GAAP. The final rule allows FPIs to file financial statements with the SEC prepared in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB without reconciliation to U.S. GAAP. Topics covered in the Q&A are:

-Compliance date and transition;
-Unreserved and explicit statement of compliance with IFRS as issued by the IASB;
-Auditors' report;
-The effect of the release on the application of Rules 3-05 and 3-09 of Regulation S-X;
-Selected financial data;
-Pro forma financial information;
-Applicability to Form 10-K filers;
-FPI voluntarily provides a U.S. GAAP reconciliation in its Form 20-F;
-First time adopters of IFRS;
-Industry guides; and
-Three years of financial statements.

Employee Benefits -- IASB Issues Discussion Paper on Preliminary Views on Amendments to IAS 19
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

The IASB has issued for public comment a Discussion Paper (DP), Preliminary Views on Amendments to IAS 19 Employee Benefits. The DP provides the preliminary views of the IASB on amendments to IAS 19, Employee Benefits. The DP discusses the following topics or items:

-Elimination of the deferred recognition and smoothing features of IAS 19, which would require all changes in the value of plan assets and in the post-employment benefit obligation to be recognized in the period they occur.
-Possible approaches to presenting the impact of immediate recognition of all changes in defined benefit obligations.
-Defining a new category of obligations-contribution-based obligations-and measuring them at fair value assuming the terms of the benefit promise do not change.
-The option to receive the higher of a defined benefit or contribution-based promise should be separately recognized and measured at fair value assuming the terms of the benefit promise do not change.

Comments on the DP are due September 26, 2008.

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AUDITING AND INTERNAL CONTROLS HEADLINES:
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Auditing Fair Value Measurements and the Use of Specialists -- PCAOB Interpretive Guidance Discussed
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We have added a GAAS Update Service that provides discussion and analysis of PCAOB Staff Audit Practice Alert No. 2, Matters Related to Auditing Fair Value Measurements of Financial Instruments and the Use of Specialists. The Practice Alert was issued in light of the impending effective date of FASB Statement No. 157, Fair Value Measurements, as well as the significantly increased audit risk and challenges related to valuation of financial instruments brought about by the liquidity crisis in the capital markets, which began in early 2007. The Practice Alert discusses the following key topics:

-Auditing fair value measurements, including the classification of fair value measurements within the fair value hierarchy established by Statement 157;
-The use of specialists in fair value measurements; and
-The use of pricing services in fair value measurements.

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:
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GOVERNMENT HEADLINES:
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Fund Balance Accounting -- GASB Exposure Draft on Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Funds Definitions Discussed
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We have added a Governmental GAAP Update Service that is the first of a two part series on the GASB proposed Exposure Draft (ED), Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions. The ED seeks to enhance the usefulness of fund balance information by: (a) providing clearer fund balance classifications that can be more consistently applied; and (b) clarifying the existing governmental fund type definitions. The Update Service discusses the classification of fund balances (e.g., nonspendable fund balance, spendable fund balance, restricted fund balance) and the illustrated classification of fund balances included in the ED.

As proposed, the ED would be effective for financial statements for periods beginning after June 15, 2010.

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