===================================================
Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
March 7-11, 2011
===================================================

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@hkcmcpa.us

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

SEC Reporting -- SEC Staff Publishes Updated Interpretations
SEC Staff Guidance -- SAB 114 Issued
Retirement Plans -- FASB Discusses Retirement Plan Disclosures and Other Matters
Financial Statement Presentation -- IASB and FASB Discusses Financial Statement Presentation and Other Matters

Auditing and Internal Controls Headlines

Auditing Standards -- AICPA Issues Auditing Standards Proposal
Quality Control -- Clarified Statement on Auditing Standards Discussed

Government Headlines

Pension Plans -- Defined Benefit Pension Draft Proposals Discussed

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

SEC Reporting -- SEC Staff Publishes Updated Interpretations
For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

The staff in the Division of Corporation Finance (Corp Fin) of the SEC has issued updates to specified Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs). These C&DIs provide interpretations by Corp Fin, in a question and answer format, of various SEC rules and regulations. The C&DIs updated by Corp Fin are as follows:

-Securities Act Sections;
-Securities Act Rules; and
-Regulation S-K.

Topics updated in these C&DIs include:

-Filing a complete offering memorandum on Form 8-K during the exempt offering period to satisfy obligations under Regulation FD;
-Certain information required for a director appointed by holders of a class of preferred stock; and
-Requirements to discuss executive compensation, including performance target levels, to be paid in the current year or in future years in a registrant’s “Compensation Discussion and Analysis.”

See our Literature Update for complete details.

SEC Staff Guidance -- SAB 114 Issued
For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

The SEC staff published Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 114. This new release revises or rescinds portions of the interpretive guidance included in the codification of the Staff Accounting Bulletin Series. According to the SEC, SAB 114 is intended to make the relevant interpretive guidance consistent with the FASB Accounting Standards Codification^TM (Codification). The principal changes involve revision or removal of accounting references and other conforming changes to ensure consistency of referencing throughout the codification of SABs.

SAB 114 is effective upon publication in the Federal Register.

Retirement Plans -- FASB Discusses Retirement Plan Disclosures and Other Matters
For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

As reported in its "Summary of Board Decisions" publication, the FASB met on March 9, 2011, and discussed: (a) disclosure about an employer's participation in a multiemployer plan; and (b) consolidation-policy and procedures. The FASB discussed comment letters received on the September 2010 proposed FASB Accounting Standards Update, Compensation - Retirement Benefits - Multiemployer Plans (Subtopic 715-80): Disclosure about an Employer’s Participation in a Multiemployer Plan, and the major issues that should be the focus of redeliberations. The FASB did not make any decisions on these issues at this meeting.

Regarding its project on consolidation, the FASB discussed its tentative decision to modify the consolidation guidance for partnerships. The FASB tentatively decided to revise its previous decision and will allow a general partner to consider its economics when evaluating whether it should consolidate a partnership. In addition, the FASB tentatively decided to replace the existing rebuttable presumption of control in Codification Subtopic 810-20 with a presumption that the general partner has power (but not control) over the partnership. The FASB also discussed the transition requirements for the proposed guidance for distinguishing an agent from a principal and decided the following:

-An entity that is required to consolidate a previously unconsolidated entity would record the assets, liabilities, and noncontrolling interests of the subsidiary as if the newly issued guidance had been effective at the time the entity first met the conditions for consolidation;
-If is not practicable for the reporting entity to determine the carrying amounts, it would measure the assets, liabilities, and noncontrolling interests of the subsidiary at their fair value at the date the newly issued requirements first apply;
-A reporting entity may elect the fair value option in transition, as long as that option is elected for all of the subsidiary’s eligible financial assets and financial liabilities;
-A reporting entity may restate comparative information for one or more years with a cumulative-effect adjustment to opening retained earnings for the first period subject to restatement;
-When a reporting entity is required to deconsolidate a previously consolidated subsidiary, the amount at which it would record its retained interest in that entity is the amount that would have been reported had the proposed guidance been effective at the time the reporting entity initially became involved with or no longer controlled the entity; and
-A reporting entity would recognize, as a cumulative adjustment to retained earnings, any difference between the net amount added to the balance sheet as a result of the newly issued guidance and the previously recognized interest.

Financial Statement Presentation -- IASB and FASB Discusses Financial Statement Presentation and Other Matters
For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

As reported in its "IASB Update" publication, the IASB and FASB met on March 1-2, 2011, and discussed the following topics:

-Financial statement presentation;
-Effective dates and transition methods;
-Insurance contracts;
-Leases; and
-Revenue recognition.

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@hkcmcpa.us

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

Auditing Standards -- AICPA Issues Auditing Standards Proposal
For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

The AICPA has issued for public comment a proposed Statement on Auditing Standard (SAS), Omnibus Statement on Auditing Standards - 2011. This proposal is part of the AICPA's Clarity Project and includes the following changes:

-Conforms the auditor's report on compliance with the requirements of the clarified SAS, Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements;
-Clarifies the requirements with respect to identified material inconsistencies by categorizing the requirements based on when they are identified; and
-Adds application material addressing electronic sites to include guidance from an interpretation of AU 550, Other Information in Documents Containing Audited Financial Statements.

As proposed, this guidance would be effective for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 15, 2012, except for the amendment to the clarified SAS, Reports on Application of Requirements of an Applicable Financial Reporting Framework, which would be effective for engagements that end on or after December 15, 2012.

Comments on this proposed SAS are due May 15, 2011.

The AICPA’s Clarity Project is intended to make existing U.S. generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) easier to understand, apply, and move toward converging U.S. GAAS with International Standards on Auditing issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. For further information on the AICPA's Clarity Project, see our previously published discussion and analysis in our publication "A Closer Look": For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

Quality Control -- Clarified Statement on Auditing Standards Discussed
For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

We have added a GAAS Update Service that provides discussion and analysis of a clarified SAS, Quality Control for an Engagement Conducted in Accordance with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards, which was issued as part of the AICPA's Clarity Project. The clarified SAS will supersede SAS 25 (AU Section 161), The Relationship of Generally Accepted Auditing Standards to Quality Control Standards, and addresses the responsibilities of the auditor regarding quality control procedures for an audit of financial statements and the responsibilities of the engagement quality control reviewer.

The clarified SAS is effective for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 15, 2012.

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@hkcmcpa.us

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

Pension Plans -- Defined Benefit Pension Draft Proposals Discussed
For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

We have added a Governmental GAAP Update Service that discusses the GASB's decisions regarding an expected defined benefit pension proposal. Topics discussed in this update are:

-Accounting and financial reporting by defined benefit pension plans;
-Employers' obligation to employees for defined pension benefits;
-Measurement of the net pension liability;
-Expense recognition;
-Sole and agent multiple employer note disclosures and required supplementary information; and
-Defined contribution plans.

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@hkcmcpa.us