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Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
May 10-14, 2010
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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

Financial Instruments - FASB Discusses Scope of Proposed Codification Amendments
EITF Materials - FASB Issues Materials for June EITF Meeting
IFRS Revisions - IASB Amends Standards
IFRIC Update - Annual Improvements and Other Matters Discussed
Foreign Currency - FASB Issues ASU
New Accounting Standards - Checklist Updated
Accounting for Liabilities - IASB Proposes Change

Auditing and Internal Controls Headlines

Other Information - Guidance on Documents Containing Audited Financial Statements

Government Headlines

Intangible Assets - Guidance on Accounting and Reporting

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ACCOUNTING AND SEC HEADLINES:
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Financial Instruments - FASB Discusses Scope of Proposed Codification Amendments
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As reported in its "Summary of Board Decisions" publication, the FASB met on May 11, 2010, and decided to exclude from the scope of the proposed financial instruments standard forward contracts that require physical settlement by repurchase of a fixed number of the issuer’s equity shares in exchange for cash. Those contracts are currently accounted for in accordance with FASB Accounting Standards CodificationTM (Codification) Topic 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.

The FASB also discussed some of the more significant comments received from external reviewers on the draft of the Proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) on financial instruments with characteristics of equity. The FASB decided that additional meetings are needed to address the issues raised in those comments.

EITF Materials - FASB Issues Materials for June EITF Meeting
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The FASB has issued the following materials for the EITF meeting scheduled for June 17, 2010:

-Agenda committee report;
-Comment letters on Proposed ASU, Health Care Entities (Topic 954): Presentation of Insurance Claims and Related Insurance Recoveries (Issue 09-K); and
-Comment letters on Proposed ASU, Health Care Entities (Topic 954): Measuring Charity for Disclosure (Issue 09-L).

In addition to consideration of the above comment letters on the issues noted, items currently on the June agenda include:

-EITF Issue No. 09-G, "Accounting for Costs Associated with Acquiring or Renewing Insurance Contracts" (Proposed ASU, Financial Services-Insurance (Topic 944): Accounting for Costs Associated with Acquiring or Renewing Insurance);
-EITF Issue No. 09-H, "Accounting by Health Care Entities: Revenue Recognition”;
-EITF Issue No. 10-A, "How the Carrying Amount of a Reporting Unit Should Be Determined When Performing Step 1 of the Goodwill Impairment Test";
-EITF Issue No. 10-B, "Accounting for Multiple Foreign Currency Exchange Rates”;
-EITF Issue No. 10-C, "Reporting of Participant Loans in Employee Benefit Plan Financial Statements”; and
-EITF Issue No. 10-D, "Accounting for Certain Fees Associated with Recently Enacted Health Care Legislation.”

IFRS Revisions - IASB Amends Standards
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The IASB issued Improvements to IFRSs, a collection of amendments to seven International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as its set of annual improvements. The IASB used the annual improvements process to make necessary, but non-urgent, amendments to IFRS that will not be included as part of a major project. The amendments included reflect issues that were included in the draft of proposed amendments to IFRS published in August 2009. It also includes an amendment to IFRS 1, First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, applicable to entities with operations subject to rate regulation. By presenting the amendments in a single document rather than a series of piecemeal changes, the IASB aims to ease the burden of change for all concerned.

Unless otherwise specified, the amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2011, with earlier application permitted.

IFRIC Update - Annual Improvements and Other Matters Discussed
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As reported in the IASB's "IFRIC Update" publication, the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) met on May 6-7, 2010, and discussed the following topics:

-Proposed annual improvements to IFRS;
-Accounting for production stripping costs;
-Vesting and non-vesting conditions;
-IFRIC agenda and tentative agenda decisions; and
-IFRIC work in progress.

Foreign Currency - FASB Issues ASU
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The FASB issued ASU No. 2010-19, Foreign Currency (Topic 830): Foreign Currency Issues: Multiple Foreign Currency Exchange Rates—An announcement made by the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The purpose of this ASU is to codify the SEC staff announcement made at the March 18, 2010, EITF meeting providing the SEC staff’s views on certain foreign currency issues related to investments in Venezuela. For more information on this SEC staff announcement, see our Hot Topic dated March 24, 2010.

Staff announcements made at EITF meetings are generally effective as of the announcement date, in this case, March 18, 2010.

New Accounting Standards - Checklist Updated
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We have updated our publication "Summary Checklist of Recent Authoritative U.S. Accounting Standards," to reflect the issuance of ASU 2010-19 as noted in the item above. This checklist is intended to serve as a reference tool to help users ensure that they have considered authoritative standards recently issued or approved by the FASB. The standards are listed by source and a summary of the transition guidance is provided with a reference to the relevant Codification paragraphs. Effective dates and adoption requirements are also presented.

See our Literature Update for complete details.

Accounting for Liabilities - IASB Proposes Change
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The IASB published for public comment an exposure draft, Fair Value Option for Financial Liabilities, which includes proposed changes to the accounting for financial liabilities. The proposal would affect only those entities that choose to apply the fair value option to their financial liabilities. The proposed changes respond to the view expressed by many investors and other parties that volatility in profit or loss resulting from changes in the credit risk of liabilities that an entity chooses to measure at fair value is counterintuitive and does not provide useful information to investors.

When the IASB introduced IFRS 9, Financial Instruments, many financial statement preparers and users advised the IASB that the existing requirements for financial liabilities work well, except for the effects of changes in the credit risk of a financial liability (“own credit”) when an entity chooses to measure a financial liability at fair value. The IASB is proposing that all gains and losses resulting from changes in “own credit” for financial liabilities that an entity chooses to measure at fair value should be transferred to “other comprehensive income.” Therefore, changes in “own credit” will not affect reported profit or loss. No other changes are proposed for financial liabilities. Those who choose to bifurcate financial liabilities when relevant may continue to do so.

Comments on this proposal are due July 16, 2010.

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AUDITING AND INTERNAL CONTROLS HEADLINES:
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Other Information - Guidance on Documents Containing Audited Financial Statements
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We have added a GAAS Update Service that provides discussion and analysis of AICPA Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 118, Other Information in Documents Containing Audited Financial Statements. SAS 118 supersedes SAS No. 8 (AU Section 550) of the same name and, together with SAS No. 119, Supplementary Information in Relation to the Financial Statements as a Whole, it also supersedes SAS No. 29, Reporting on Information Accompanying the Basic Financial Statements in Auditor-Submitted Documents (AU Section 551). Among other matters, SAS 118 eliminates the distinction between (a) other information that is included in an auditor-submitted document containing the client’s basic financial statements and the auditor’s report thereon, and (b) other information that is in a client-prepared document.

SAS 118 is effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2010, with earlier application permitted.

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GOVERNMENT HEADLINES:
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Intangible Assets - Guidance on Accounting and Reporting
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We have added a Governmental GAAP Update Service providing discussion and analysis of Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) No. 51, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Intangible Assets. GASB 51 is designed to improve the reporting of the financial position of governments by more faithfully representing the service capacity of their intangibles. The statement clarifies that intangible assets should be classified as capital assets and that the periodic cost associated with the usage of their service capacity should be recognized in the government financial statements. GASB 51 also provides guidance related to the recognition, amortization, and impairment of qualifying intangible assets.

The guidance in GASB 51 is effective for government financial statements for periods beginning on or after June 15, 2009 - that is, annual financial statements for periods ending on or 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