===================================================
Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
November 2-6, 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

Income Taxes -- Interpretations of Topic 740 Updated
Oil and Gas Activities -- SEC Staff Publishes Accounting Bulletin on Oil and Gas Accounting Rules
EITF Materials -- FASB Issues Additional Materials for November 19, 2009 EITF Meeting
Engagement Quality Review -- SEC Publishes Proposed PCAOB Rules for Comment
Financial Instruments -- FASB Discusses Financial Instruments and Other Matters
Financial Instruments -- IASB Issues Proposal on Amortized Cost Measurement and Impairment
Related Party Disclosures -- IASB Revises IAS 24
Financial Crisis -- FASB/IASB Discuss Financial Crisis and Other Matters
International Financial Reporting -- IASB Issues Agenda for November 12-13, 2009 Standards Advisory Council Meeting

Auditing and Internal Controls Headlines

Engagement Quality Review -- SEC Publishes Proposed PCAOB Rules for Comment

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

Income Taxes -- Interpretations of Topic 740 Updated
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


We have updated our publication, Accounting for Income Taxes - Interpretations of Topic 740, (formerly known as Accounting for Income Taxes - Interpretations of FASB Statement 109), to include guidance on the following topics:

-Attribution of income taxes to the entity or its owners;
-Common control merger of taxable and nontaxable entities;
-Income statement classification of direct costs of executing a tax strategy; and
-Changes to the acquiring entity’s valuation allowance during the measurement period.

See our Literature Update for complete details.

Oil and Gas Activities -- SEC Staff Publishes Accounting Bulletin on Oil and Gas Accounting Rules
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The Office of the Chief Accountant of the SEC has published Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 113. This SAB revises or rescinds portions of the interpretive guidance included in SAB Topic 12, Oil and Gas Producing Activities, and revises a technical reference in SAB Topic 3, Senior Securities, in order to make the interpretive guidance consistent with the SEC’s final rule, Modernization of Oil and Gas Reporting, which was issued December 31, 2008. The principal revisions included in SAB 113 include:

-Changing the price used to determine quantities of oil and gas reserves;
-Eliminating the option to use post-quarter-end prices to evaluate write-offs of excess capitalized costs under the full cost method of accounting;
-Removing the exclusion of unconventional methods used in extracting oil and gas from oil sands or shale as an oil and gas producing activity; and
-Removing certain questions and interpretive guidance which are no longer necessary.

The effective date of SAB 113 is November 4, 2009.

EITF Materials -- FASB Issues Additional Materials for November 19, 2009 EITF Meeting
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The FASB has issued the following additional materials for the November 19, 2009 EITF meeting:

-Revised proposed agenda;
-EITF Issue No. 09-E, "Accounting for Stock Dividends, Including Distributions to Shareholders with Components of Stock and Cash" (supplement);
-EITF Issue No. 09-F, "Casino Base Jackpot Liabilities" (issue summary);
-EITF Issue No. 09-G, "Clarification of the Definition of Deferred Acquisition Costs of Insurance Entities" (issue summary); and
-EITF Issue No. 09-I, "Effect of a Loan Modification When the Loan Is Part of a Pool that is Accounted for as a Single Asset" (issue summary).

Engagement Quality Review -- SEC Publishes Proposed PCAOB Rules for Comment
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The SEC has issued, Notice of Filing of Proposed Rules on Auditing Standard No. 7, Engagement Quality Review, and Conforming Amendment. This notice seeks comments from the public on the previously adopted PCAOB Auditing Standard (AS) No. 7, Engagement Quality Review, and a conforming amendment to PCAOB Interim Quality Control Standards. AS 7, as included in this notice, is consistent with its original adoption by the PCAOB on July 28, 2009. It provides a framework for the engagement quality reviewer to objectively evaluate the significant judgments made and related conclusions reached by the engagement team in forming an overall conclusion about the engagement. According to the PCAOB, this standard and conforming amendment focus the engagement quality reviewer’s attention on the areas that are most likely to contain significant engagement deficiencies and increase the likelihood of identifying and correcting those deficiencies before the audit report is issued.

If approved by the SEC, AS 7 and the conforming amendment would be effective for engagement quality review of audits and interim reviews for fiscal years beginning on or after December 15, 2009.

Comments on this proposal are due November 27, 2009.

Financial Instruments -- FASB Discusses Financial Instruments and Other Matters
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


As reported in its "Summary of Board Decisions" publication, the FASB met on November 4, 2009, and discussed the following topics: (a) accounting for financial instruments; and (b) subsequent events implementation. The FASB discussed how an entity would account for the difference, if any, between transaction price and fair value at initial measurement for those financial instruments in situations when it is clear that the transaction price differs from fair value. The FASB asked its staff to develop a principle to help identify when the transaction price would differ from fair value and, if so, how to calculate the initial value of the financial instrument at that date.

The FASB also discussed implementation issues relating to accounting and reporting for subsequent events under Topic 855, Subsequent Events, and made the following decisions:

-Clarified that all entities would be required to disclose the date through which subsequent events have been evaluated, in both originally issued and reissued financial statements, unless they have a regulatory requirement to review subsequent events up through the filing or furnishing of financial statements with the SEC.
-Clarified that entities that are not subject to such regulatory requirement with respect to filing or furnishing of financial statements with the SEC would be required to disclose the date through which subsequent events have been evaluated in originally issued financial statements as well as in a restatement of previously issued financial statements; restatements include both correction of an error and retrospective application of U.S. GAAP.
-Decided that entities that file or furnish financial statements with the SEC should use an issued date in evaluating subsequent events. An entity that does not file or furnish financial statements with the SEC would be able to use an available-to-be issued date unless the entity has a current expectation of widely distributing its financial statements to shareholders and other financial statement users. If the entity has that expectation, it would use an issued date.
-Directed the FASB staff to proceed to a draft of an exposure draft of a proposed Accounting Standards Update for vote by written ballot, with a 30-day comment period. The exposure draft will propose that the Accounting Standards Update be effective prospectively upon issuance of a final document.

The FASB chairman added the following short-term projects to the FASB’s agenda to address implementation issues relating to:

-Accounting and reporting for subsequent events; and
-The impact of the consolidations guidance in FASB Statement No. 167, Amendments to FASB Interpretation 46(R), on the investment management industry.

Financial Instruments -- IASB Issues Proposal on Amortized Cost Measurement and Impairment
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The IASB has issued for public comment an exposure draft, Financial Instruments - Amortised Cost and Impairment. This proposal represents the second part of a three-part project to replace IAS 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement, with a new standard, to be known as IFRS 9, Financial Instruments. This proposal would apply to all financial assets measured at amortized cost and change the model used to account for impairments of financial instruments from the current impairment model based on incurred losses to one based on expected losses. Under an expected loss impairment model, an entity would be required to:

-Determine the expected credit losses on a financial asset when that asset is first obtained;
-Recognize contractual interest revenue, less the initial expected credit losses, over the life of the financial instrument;
-Build up a provision over the life of the financial instrument for expected credit losses;
-Reassess the expected credit loss each period; and
-Recognize immediately the effects of any changes in credit loss expectations.

Comments on this proposal are due June 30, 2010.

Related Party Disclosures -- IASB Revises IAS 24
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The IASB has replaced IAS 24, Related Party Disclosures, with a new version. The IASB believes the revised standard simplifies the disclosure requirements for government-related entities by focusing disclosures on significant transactions, and clarifies the definition of a related party.

The revised standard is effective for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2011. Early adoption is permitted.

Financial Crisis -- FASB/IASB Discuss Financial Crisis and Other Matters
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


As reported in its "IASB Update" publication, the FASB and IASB held a joint meeting on October 26-28, 2009, and discussed the following topics:

-Financial crisis;
-Discontinued operations;
-Financial instruments with characteristics of equity;
-Financial statement presentation;
-Income tax;
-Insurance contracts;
-Leases;
-Revenue recognition;
-Statement of comprehensive income; and
-FASB/IASB technical plans.

The FASB and IASB reached a number of tentative decisions regarding theses topics, which are detailed in the IASB Update.

International Financial Reporting -- IASB Issues Agenda for November 12-13, 2009 Standards Advisory Council Meeting
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


The IASB's Standards Advisory Council (SAC) is expected to discuss the following agenda items at its November 12-13, 2009 meeting:

-Overview of IASB activities in the last 4 months;
-SAC member activities;
-Address by the Chinese Vice Minister Wang Jun;
-Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council update;
-Priorities for the IASB work plan post June 2011;
-Disclosures - reducing complexity; and
-Constitutional 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


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

Engagement Quality Review -- SEC Publishes Proposed PCAOB Rules for Comment
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


As discussed above in our Accounting and SEC Summaries, the SEC has issued, Notice of Filing of Proposed Rules on Auditing Standard No. 7, Engagement Quality Review, and Conforming Amendment. This notice seeks comments from the public on the previously adopted PCAOB Auditing Standard (AS) No. 7, Engagement Quality Review, and a conforming amendment to PCAOB Interim Quality Control Standards. AS 7, as included in this notice, is consistent with its original adoption by the PCAOB on July 28, 2009. It provides a framework for the engagement quality reviewer to objectively evaluate the significant judgments made and related conclusions reached by the engagement team in forming an overall conclusion about the engagement. According to the PCAOB, this standard and conforming amendment focus the engagement quality reviewer’s attention on the areas that are most likely to contain significant engagement deficiencies and increase the likelihood of identifying and correcting those deficiencies before the audit report is issued.

If approved by the SEC, AS 7 and the conforming amendment would be effective for engagement quality review of audits and interim reviews for fiscal years beginning on or after December 15, 2009.

Comments on this proposal are due November 27, 2009.

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