===================================================
Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
May 17-21, 2010
===================================================

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

International Accounting -- SEC Chairman Reaffirms Commitment to Global Accounting Standards
Financial Assets and Liabilities -- Publication Updated
Derivatives and Hedging -- Publication Updated
Revenue Recognition -- FASB and IASB Discuss Revenue Recognition and Other Matters

Government Headlines

GASB Activities -- Recent GASB Meetings and Other Matters Discussed

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

International Accounting -- SEC Chairman Reaffirms Commitment to Global Accounting Standards
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro reaffirmed the SEC’s full commitment to developing a single set of high-quality, globally accepted accounting standards that will benefit U.S. investors and investors around the world. Ms. Schapiro made remarks to a global organization of investment professionals in which she also addressed as inaccurate a number of “myths” that have emerged suggesting that the SEC has lost its commitment to a single set of high quality accounting standards, including that the:

-SEC's commitment to global accounting standards is not as strong as it should be;
-U.S. may be committed, but is dragging its feet regarding adoption of IFRS;
-U.S. is fixated on the process of moving to global accounting standards; and
-U.S. is simply protecting its parochial interests.

Financial Assets and Liabilities -- Publication Updated
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


We have updated our publication Financial Assets and Liabilities - Sales, Transfers, and Extinguishments: Interpretations of U.S. GAAP. This publication provides guidance on the accounting for sales, transfers, and servicing of financial assets under FASB Accounting Standards CodificationTM (Codification) Topic 860, Transfers and Servicing, and related guidance on the extinguishment of liabilities in Codification Topic 405, Liabilities. We have made a number of updates to this publication, including the following:

-Made various changes to reflect the issuance of FASB Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2009-16, Transfers and Servicing (Topic 860): Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets, which codified the content of FASB Statement No. 166, Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets—an amendment of FASB Statement No. 140;
-Revised various interpretations that addressed the application of the concept of a "qualifying special-purpose entity," to reflect that this concept has been eliminated; and
-Added SEC staff comments on distinguishing a transfer of an interest in financial assets from a transfer of an equity interest in an entity that holds financial assets.

See our Literature Update for complete details.

Derivatives and Hedging -- Publication Updated
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


We have revised our publication Derivatives and Hedging - Interpretations of U.S. GAAP. This publication provides guidance on the accounting for derivatives and hedging activities. We have made a number of updates to this publication, including the following:

-Added SEC staff views on defining the terms of an embedded derivative and the scope of the shortcut method; and
-Revised to reflect amendments of the Codification through ASU No. 2010-11, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Scope Exception Related to Embedded Credit Derivatives, and FASB Editorial and Maintenance Update No. 2010-08.

See our Literature Update for complete details.

Revenue Recognition -- FASB and IASB Discuss Revenue Recognition and Other Matters
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 17-19, 2010, and discussed the following topics:

-Revenue recognition;
-Conceptual framework: objective and qualitative characteristics;
-Leases;
-Insurance contracts; and
-Consolidation.

Regarding their project on revenue recognition, the Boards discussed: (a) repurchase agreements; and (b) sales of assets that are not an output of an entity’s ordinary activities. The Boards reached a number of decisions on these issues, including the following:

-The forthcoming proposal will explain how an entity would determine whether a buyer obtains control of an asset subject to a repurchase agreement;
-To remove Subtopic 470-40, Debt- Product Financing Arrangements, from the Codification; and
-An entity should apply the recognition and measurement principles of the proposed revenue model to contracts for the sale of the following assets that are not an output of the entity’s ordinary activities: (a) intangible assets within the scope of Codification Topic 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other, or IAS 38, Intangible Assets; and (b) property, plant, and equipment within the scope of Codification Topic 360, Property, Plant, and Equipment, or IAS 16, Property, Plant and Equipment, or IAS 40, Investment Property.

The Boards also discussed their conceptual framework project. Specifically, the Boards discussed two issues that arose on the objective of financial reporting and the qualitative characteristics chapters. First, the Boards agreed that "materiality" is an entity-specific aspect of relevance rather than a constraint to be considered in setting financial reporting standards. Second, the Boards discussed how best to describe the objective of financial reporting.

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