===================================================
Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
May 25-29, 2009
===================================================

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

Subsequent Events -- FASB Issues Guidance on Accounting and Disclosure of Subsequent Events
Mergers and Acquisitions -- FASB Issues Guidance for Not-for-Profit Entities
Revenue Recognition -- FASB and IASB Discuss Joint Revenue Recognition Project
Fair Value Disclosures -- FASB Discusses Improving Disclosures About Fair Value Measurements
Fair Value Measurement -- IASB Issues Proposal
Pension Plans -- IASB Issues Proposal on Prepayments of a Minimum Funding Requirement
Audit Risk Alert -- AICPA Issues Audit Risk Alert on Not-for-Profit Entities
IASB Update -- Global Financial Crisis and Other Matters Discussed
IFRIC Update -- IFRIC Agenda and Other Matters Discussed

Auditing and Internal Controls Headlines

Internal Controls -- 2009 Edition of Auditor's Risk Management Guide Published
Engagement Quality Review -- PCAOB Proposed Auditing Standard Discussed
Governmental Audits -- OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement Published
Audit Risk Alert -- AICPA Issues Audit Risk Alert on Not-for-Profit Entities

Government Headlines

Governmental Audits -- OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement Published
Financial Statements -- GASB Statement 55 and 56 Discussed
GASB Report Issued -- Recently Issued GASB Standards and Other Matters Discussed

=============================
ACCOUNTING AND SEC HEADLINES:
=============================

Subsequent Events -- FASB Issues Guidance on Accounting and Disclosure of Subsequent Events
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The FASB has issued FASB Statement No. 165, Subsequent Events. Statement 165 establishes general standards of accounting for and disclosure of events that occur after the balance sheet date but before financial statements are issued or are available to be issued. Specifically, Statement 165 provides:

-The period after the balance sheet date during which management of a reporting entity should evaluate events or transactions that may occur for potential recognition or disclosure in the financial statements;
-The circumstances under which an entity should recognize events or transactions occurring after the balance sheet date in its financial statements; and
-The disclosures that an entity should make about events or transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date.

Statement 165 is effective for interim or annual financial periods ending after June 15, 2009, and shall be applied prospectively.

Mergers and Acquisitions -- FASB Issues Guidance for Not-for-Profit Entities
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The FASB issued FASB Statement No. 164, Not-for-Profit Entities: Mergers and Acquisitions. Statement 164 is intended to improve the relevance, representational faithfulness, and comparability of the information that a not-for-profit entity provides in its financial reports about a combination with one or more other not-for-profit entities, businesses, or nonprofit activities. To accomplish that, Statement 164 establishes principles and requirements for how a not-for-profit entity:

-Determines whether a combination is a merger or an acquisition;
-Applies the carryover method in accounting for a merger;
-Applies the acquisition method in accounting for an acquisition, including determining which of the combining entities is the acquirer; and
-Determines what information to disclose to enable users of financial statements to evaluate the nature and financial effects of a merger or an acquisition.

Statement 164 is also intended to improve the information a not-for-profit entity provides about goodwill and other intangible assets after an acquisition by amending FASB Statement No. 142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, to make it fully applicable to not-for-profit entities.

Statement 164 is effective for mergers occurring on or after December 15, 2009, and acquisitions for which the acquisition date is on or after the beginning of the first annual reporting period beginning on or after December 15, 2009. Early application is prohibited.

Revenue Recognition -- FASB and IASB Discuss Joint Revenue Recognition Project
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


As reported in its "Summary of Board Decisions" publication, the FASB and IASB (the Boards) held a joint meeting on May 21, 2009, and discussed their joint project on revenue recognition. The Boards discussed how an entity would measure its net contract position and recognize revenue when the customer promises an uncertain (variable) amount of consideration. The Boards tentatively agreed that revenue recognition should be constrained only if the consideration amount cannot be reliably estimated. The Boards directed their staff to develop proposed application guidance that an entity would use to determine whether an estimate is reliable. The Boards also asked their staff to develop potential disclosures that an entity might provide about contracts with uncertain consideration and the estimates reported in the financial statements.

Fair Value Disclosures -- FASB Discusses Improving Disclosures About Fair Value Measurements
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


As reported in its "Summary of Board Decisions" publication, the FASB met on May 27, 2009, and discussed improving disclosures about fair value measurements. Specifically, the FASB discussed a proposal that would require additional information about fair value measurements used in financial statements and reached the following tentative decisions:

-FASB Statement No. 157, Fair Value Measurements, currently requires separate disclosures for each major category of assets and liabilities, which is often interpreted in current practice to be equivalent to a line item in the statement of financial position. The FASB decided that the level of disaggregation generally should be greater than the line items for assets and liabilities in the statement of financial position. Additional guidance on disaggregation will be discussed at a future meeting.

-Paragraph 32(e) of Statement 157 requires a discussion of the valuation techniques used to measure fair value. The FASB decided to clarify that this discussion should include descriptive disclosures about significant inputs for both Level 2 and Level 3 estimates.

-For Level 3 estimates, entities should disclose any significant effect of reasonably possible alternative inputs and how the effect was calculated.

-Entities should disclose any significant transfers between Levels 1, 2, and 3 during the reporting period and the reasons the transfers were made.

The FASB indicated that its goal is to issue a final standard that would be effective for annual and interim periods ending after December 15, 2009.

Fair Value Measurement -- IASB Issues Proposal
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The IASB has issued for public comment an Exposure Draft (ED), Fair Value Measurement. This ED would replace existing fair value measurement guidance contained in individual IFRSs with a single, unified definition of fair value, as well as further authoritative guidance on the application of fair value measurement in inactive markets. This ED deals with how fair value should be measured when it is already required by existing standards and does not extend its use in any way.

This ED defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (an exit price). Under this ED, in the absence of an actual transaction at the measurement date, a fair value measurement assumes a hypothetical transaction in the most advantageous market for the asset or liability.

Comments on this proposal are due September 28, 2009.

Pension Plans -- IASB Issues Proposal on Prepayments of a Minimum Funding Requirement
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The IASB has issued for public comment an ED, Prepayments of a Minimum Funding Requirement. This ED would amend IFRIC 14, IAS 19 - The Limit on a Defined Benefit Asset, Minimum Funding Requirements and their Interaction, to correct an unintended consequence that in some circumstances does not permit some entities to recognize as an asset some prepayments for minimum funding contributions. IFRIC 14 states that the surplus in the plan created by the prepayment is not regarded as available as an economic benefit if the future minimum funding contribution required in respect of future service exceeds the future IAS 19 service cost. Therefore, in such cases the prepayment is recognized as an expense and not an asset. The IASB believes such prepayments represent an asset, not an expense and therefore have issued this ED.

Comments on this proposal are due July 27, 2009.

Audit Risk Alert -- AICPA Issues Audit Risk Alert on Not-for-Profit Entities
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The AICPA has issued an Audit Risk Alert, Not-for-Profit Entities Industry Developments - 2009. This Audit Risk Alert is intended to provide auditors of financial statements of not-for-profit entities with an overview of recent economic, industry, technical, regulatory, and professional developments that may affect the audits and other engagements they perform. This Audit Risk Alert also include a section discussing current and future rulemaking or other activities that may affect not-for-profit entities in the near future.

IASB Update-- Global Financial Crisis and Other Matters Discussed
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


As reported in its "IASB Update" publication, the IASB met on May 18-21, 2009, and discussed the following items:

-Global financial crisis;
-Conceptual framework;
-Financial instruments with characteristics of equity;
-First-time adoption of IFRSs;
-Insurance contracts;
-Joint ventures;
-Leases;
-Post-employment benefits;
-Rate-regulated activities;
-Revenue recognition; and
-Annual improvements.

IFRIC Update-- IFRIC Agenda and Other Matters Discussed
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


As reported in the IASB's "IFRIC Update" publication, the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) met on May 7, 2009, and discussed the following items:

-Agenda decisions;
-Tentative agenda decisions; and
-Work in progress

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


=======================================
AUDITING AND INTERNAL CONTROLS HEADLINES:
=======================================

Internal Controls -- 2009 Edition of Auditor's Risk Management Guide Published
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


We have published the 2009 edition of Auditor's Risk Management Guide: Integrating Auditing and ERM. This edition provides comprehensive, how-to guidance on performing a risk management-based audit and assessing risk in a Sarbanes-Oxley world. Among other changes, this edition contains the following:

-Discussion of the interrelationships between governance, risk, and compliance, including the expanded role of compliance;
-A new chapter on entity-level controls;
-A new practice aid, “Entity-Level Controls Assessment,” which is designed to assist companies in their evaluation of entity-level controls;
-Discussions of financial statements and risks as they relate to the AICPA Statement on Auditing Standards No. 107, Audit Risk and Materiality in Conducting an Audit;
-Information on the guidance for small companies as outlined in Impact of COSO's Internal Control over Financial Reporting - Guidance for Smaller Public Companies; and
-A section on determining materiality for financial statements taken as a whole that provides guidance on establishing materiality levels at the financial statement level.

See our Literature Update for complete details.

Engagement Quality Review -- PCAOB Proposed Auditing Standard Discussed
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


We have added a GAAS Update Service that provides discussion and analysis of PCAOB proposed Auditing Standard, Engagement Quality Review. This proposed standard would require an engagement quality review for audits and interim reviews and supersede the PCAOB’s interim quality control standard on concurring partner review requirements. Among other matters, the proposed standard requires the engagement quality reviewer to: (a) evaluate the significant judgments made by the engagement team and the conclusions reached in forming the overall conclusion on the engagement and in preparing the engagement report; (b) evaluate whether the engagement documentation reviewed indicates that the engagement team responded appropriately to significant risks, and supports the conclusions reached by the engagement team; and (c) provide concurring approval of issuance only if, after performing the review with due professional care, the reviewer is not aware of a “significant engagement deficiency,” as defined.

Governmental Audits -- OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement Published
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


We have published the March 2009 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Compliance Supplement to OMB Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations. This Supplement serves to identify existing important compliance requirements that the federal government expects to be considered as part of an audit under OMB Circular A-133. This Supplement also provides guidance to assist auditors in determining compliance requirements relevant to the audit, audit objectives, and suggested audit procedures for programs not included herein. For single audits, this Supplement replaces agency audit guides and other audit requirement documents for individual federal programs.

This Supplement is effective for audits of fiscal years beginning after June 30, 2008, and supersedes the OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement dated March 2008.

Audit Risk Alert -- AICPA Issues Audit Risk Alert on Not-for-Profit Entities
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


As discussed above in our Accounting and SEC Summaries, the AICPA has issued an Audit Risk Alert, Not-for-Profit Entities Industry Developments - 2009. This Audit Risk Alert is intended to provide auditors of financial statements of not-for-profit entities with an overview of recent economic, industry, technical, regulatory, and professional developments that may affect the audits and other engagements they perform. This Audit Risk Alert also include a section discussing current and future rulemaking or other activities that may affect not-for-profit entities in the near future.

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


======================
GOVERNMENT HEADLINES:
======================

Governmental Audits -- OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement Published
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


As discussed above in our Auditing and Internal Controls Summaries, we have published the March 2009 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Compliance Supplement to OMB Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations. This Supplement serves to identify existing important compliance requirements that the federal government expects to be considered as part of an audit under OMB Circular A-133. This Supplement also provides guidance to assist auditors in determining compliance requirements relevant to the audit, audit objectives, and suggested audit procedures for programs not included herein. For single audits, this Supplement replaces agency audit guides and other audit requirement documents for individual federal programs.

This Supplement is effective for audits of fiscal years beginning after June 30, 2008, and supersedes the OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement dated March 2008.

Financial Statements -- GASB Statement 55 and 56 Discussed
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


We have added a Governmental GAAP Update Service that discusses the GASB's issuance of the following two pronouncements:

-GASB Statement No. 55, The Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for State and Local Governments; and
-GASB Statement No. 56, Codification of Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidance Contained in the AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards.

GASB 55 incorporates the hierarchy of generally accepted accounting principles for state and local governments into the GASB's authoritative literature. GASB 56 incorporates accounting and financial reporting guidance previously only contained in the AICPA auditing literature into the GASB's accounting and financial reporting literature for state and local governments. GASB 56 addresses three issues from the AICPA's literature: (1) related party transactions; (2) going concern considerations; and (3) subsequent events.

GASB 55 and GASB 56 were effective upon issuance.

GASB Report Issued -- Recently Issued GASB Standards and Other Matters Discussed
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The April 2009 edition of the "GASB Report" has been issued and includes the following discussion items:

-GASB Calendar;
-The issuance of GASB 55 and GASB 56;
-Summary of recent GASB meetings;
-GASB posts video podcast to website; and
-GASB performance measures: technical inquiry activities.

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