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Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
January 19-23, 2009
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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

Financial Assets and Liabilities -- Statement 140 Interpretation Updated
Leases -- FASB and IASB Discuss Lease Accounting
Financial Reporting -- FASB Discusses Technical Corrections to U.S. GAAP
Inflation Rates -- Interpretation Added, Inflation Rates for Judging Whether an Economy Is Highly Inflationary - December 2008
Financial Reporting -- SEC Disclosure Initiative Report Published and Discussed

Government Headlines

Service Efforts and Accomplishments -- GASB Issues Guidance on Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting

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ACCOUNTING AND SEC HEADLINES:
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Financial Assets and Liabilities -- Statement 140 Interpretation Updated
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

We have updated our interpretation, Financial Assets and Liabilities - Sales, Transfers, and Extinguishments: Interpretations of FASB Statement 140. Specifically, we have updated various interpretations within this publication to reflect the following new accounting standards or guidance:

-FASB Staff Position (FSP) FAS 157-3, Determining the Fair Value of a Financial Asset When the Market for That Asset Is Not Active;
-Jointly issued clarifications by the FASB and the SEC on the application of FASB Statement No. 157, Fair Value Measurements;
-EITF Issue No. 08-5, “Issuer’s Accounting for Liabilities Measured at Fair Value with a Third-Party Credit Enhancement”;
-Letter from SEC Chief Accountant to the FASB Chairman on how to assess declines in fair value for perpetual preferred securities; and
-FSP FAS 133-1 and FIN 45-4, Disclosures about Credit Derivatives and Certain Guarantees.

See our Literature Update for complete details.

Leases -- FASB and IASB Discuss Lease Accounting
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

As discussed in its "Summary of Board Decisions" publication, the FASB and IASB (the Boards) held a joint video conference on January 22, 2009, to discuss the content and timing of a proposed Discussion Paper (DP) on lease accounting. The Boards decided to include in the DP a high-level discussion of lessor accounting issues and expects to issue it in March 2009.

Financial Reporting -- FASB Discusses Technical Corrections to U.S. GAAP
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

As discussed in its "Summary of Board Decisions" publication, the FASB met on January 21, 2009, and discussed technical corrections to FASB statements and other U.S. GAAP literature. The objective is to complete some necessary housekeeping of U.S. GAAP. The FASB discussed a draft of a proposed statement that would eliminate the following from U.S. GAAP:

-FASB Technical Bulletin (FTB) No. 01-01, Effective Date for Certain Financial Institutions of Certain Provisions of Statement 140 Related to the Isolation of Transferred Financial Assets;
-EITF Topic No. D-33, “Timing of Recognition of Tax Benefits for Pre-reorganization Temporary Differences and Carryforwards”; and
-EITF Topic No. D-67, “Isolation of Assets Transferred by Financial Institutions under FASB Statement No. 125”.

The FASB chairman also announced that the proposed guidance in FSP ARB 43-a, Amendment of the Inventory Provisions of Chapter 4 of ARB No. 43, will not be finalized. In addition, the chairman announced that any guidance necessary for the accounting of in process research and development costs in an asset acquisition will be addressed by the EITF rather than the FASB.

Inflation Rates -- Interpretation Added, Inflation Rates for Judging Whether an Economy Is Highly Inflationary - December 2008
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

Our interpretation, Inflation Rates for Judging Whether an Economy Is Highly Inflationary - December 2008, has been issued and reflects the latest available inflation rate information. Since our last update in September 2008, the following countries have been reclassified from the list of countries that do not have highly inflationary economies to the “watch list” of countries that may have highly inflationary economies:

-Afghanistan;
-Ethiopia;
-Iran;
-Jamaica;
-Kyrgyz Republic;
-Seychelles; and
-Vietnam

See our Literature Update for complete details.

Financial Reporting -- SEC Disclosure Initiative Report Published and Discussed

In June 2008, the SEC announced the 21st Century Disclosure Initiative, a wide-ranging internal SEC effort to fundamentally rethink financial disclosure. According to the SEC, the purpose of this initiative is to examine the basic purposes of disclosure from the perspectives of investors and markets and to create a comprehensive high-level plan for overhauling the SEC's current forms-based disclosure system. As part of this initiative, a report has been released Toward Greater Transparency: Modernizing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Disclosure System: For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

This report recommends that the SEC design and implement a modernized disclosure system in which interactive data replaces plain text disclosure documents. The initiative's proposed new system would use new technology to collect, manage, and provide structured disclosure information.

In conjunction with the release of this report, William Lutz, Director of the 21st Century Disclosure Initiative, gave a speech entitled, The Future of Financial Reporting: For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com.

Mr. Lutz outlined the key highlights from the report including its recommendation that the SEC move from its current reliance on lengthy disclosure documents that lock important investor information in long, static forms to an interactive filing system that calls for filing specific disclosure data in response to regulatory reporting obligations.

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GOVERNMENT HEADLINES:
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Service Efforts and Accomplishments -- GASB Issues Guidance on Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com

The GASB has issued a newly revised and updated version of GASB Concepts Statement (CON) No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting. The revised version of CON 2 includes amendments made to the document by CON 3, Communication Methods in General Purpose External Financial Reports That Contain Basic Financial Statements, and CON 5, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting - an amendment of GASB Concepts Statement No. 2.

This amended CON 2 provides a framework that is expected to be used by the GASB in considering guidance for reporting service efforts and accomplishments (SEA) by state and local governmental entities. This statement provides a rationale for the objective of SEA reporting, and identifies the elements of SEA reporting and the qualitative characteristics that SEA performance information should possess. This amended CON 2 also serves as a link between the financial reporting objectives of CON 1, Objectives of Financial Reporting, and future pronouncements or other communications that provide guidance for the reporting of SEA performance information. This Statement does not establish SEA reporting requirements; rather, it broadly describes why external reporting of SEA performance information assists users in assessing accountability and in making better informed decisions.

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