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Accounting Research Manager®
Weekly Summary of Developments
March 19-23, 2012
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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:

For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

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ACCOUNTING AND SEC HEADLINES:
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EITF Meeting Results -- Decisions Reached
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As described in detail in our "EITF Flash Report," the Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) discussed the following issues at its March 15, 2012 meeting:

-EITF Issue No. 11-A, "Parent’s Accounting for the Cumulative Translation Adjustment upon the Sale or Transfer of a Group of Assets That Is a Nonprofit Activity or a Business within a Consolidated Foreign Entity";
-EITF Issue No. 12-A, "Not-for-Profit Entities: Classification of Gifts of Securities In the Statement of Cash Flows";
-EITF Issue No. 12-B, "Not-for-Profit Entities: Services Received from Employees of an Affiliated Entity";
-EITF Issue No. 12-C, "Subsequent Accounting for an Indemnification Asset Recognized at the Acquisition Date as a Result of a Government-Assisted Acquisition of a Lending Institution";
-EITF Issue No. 12-D, "Accounting for Joint and Several Liability for which the Total Amount of the Obligation at the Reporting Date is Fixed"; and
-EITF Issue No. 12-E, "Accounting for Fair Value Information That Arises Subsequent to the Measurement Date and Its Inclusion in the Impairment Analysis of Unamortized Film Costs."

The EITF reached consensuses-for-exposure on Issues 12-A, 12-C, and 12-E. The FASB will discuss the consensuses-for-exposure at a future meeting. Any consensuses-for-exposure ratified by the FASB will be exposed for comment. The EITF did not reach a consensus-for-exposure or a final consensus on Issues 11-A, 12-B, or 12-D.

See our EITF Flash Report for complete details.

Repurchase Agreements -- FASB Adds Project on Repurchase Agreements and Similar Transactions
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As reported in its "Summary of Board Decisions" publication, the FASB met on March 21, 2012, and discussed whether to add a new project to its agenda related to the accounting and disclosure requirements for repurchase agreements and similar transactions. The FASB Chairman decided to add the project to the FASB’s agenda, citing the need to revisit the accounting to address application issues, changes in the marketplace, and to ensure that investors obtain useful information about these transactions. The FASB discussed several possible alternative approaches for proceeding with the project and tentatively decided to reexamine the guidance in FASB Accounting Standards Codification^TM Topic 860, Transfers and Servicing, that is specific to the assessment of effective control for repurchase agreements and similar transactions. The FASB is expected to consider approaches with the objective of differentiating between those transactions that are secured borrowings and those that are more clearly sales of the transferred financial assets with forward purchase agreements.

In addition, the FASB and IASB held a separate session on insurance contracts.

IFRS -- IASB Issues Amendments to IFRS 1
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The IASB has published amendments to IFRS 1, First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. The amendments, Government Loans (Amendments to IFRS 1), result from proposals in the Exposure Draft, Government Loans (proposed amendments to IFRS 1), that were published in October 2011.

The amendments add an exception to the retrospective application of IFRS to require that first-time adopters apply the requirements in IFRS 9, Financial Instruments, and IAS 20, Accounting for Government Grants and Disclosure of Government Assistance, prospectively to government loans existing at the date of transition to IFRS. This means that first-time adopters should not recognize the corresponding benefit of the government loan at a below-market rate of interest as a government grant. However, entities may choose to apply the requirements of IFRS 9 and IAS 20 to government loans retrospectively if the information needed to do so had been obtained at the time of initially accounting for that loan. These amendments give first-time adopters the same relief as existing preparers of IFRS financial statements.

Entities are required to apply the amendments for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2013. Earlier application is permitted.

International Accounting -- New IFRS Checklist Published
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We have updated our “Summary Checklist of Recent Authoritative International Financial Reporting Standards.” This checklist is intended to serve as a reference tool to review authoritative standards recently issued or approved by the IASB. The coverage of this checklist includes IFRS, International Accounting Standards, and interpretations developed by the IFRS Interpretations Committee. All of these standards must be approved by the IASB before they are issued.

We have updated this checklist to reflect the issuance of Government Loans (Amendments to IFRS 1), which is discussed above.

See our Literature Update for complete details.

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AUDITING AND INTERNAL CONTROLS HEADLINES:
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Single Audits -- Updated Edition of Knowledge-Based Single Audits Published
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We have published a new edition of Knowledge-Based Single Audits. This publication is designed to help the auditor accurately, efficiently and effectively perform the compliance audit portion of the single audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAS), Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), and the audit requirements in Circular A-133 issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. This edition of the publication includes revisions and updates to reflect current accounting authoritative literature and, among other things, pronouncements through:

-AICPA Statement on Auditing Standards No. 125, Alert That Restricts the Use of the Auditor’s Written Communication;
-AICPA Statement on Quality Control Standards No. 8, A Firm’s System of Quality Control; and
-The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued Government Auditing Standards, 2011 Internet Version (The Yellow Book).

See our Literature Update for complete details.

using their own internal methodologies are encouraged by the AICPA to review this practice aid to ensure that such methodologies do not need to be enhanced or revised.

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:
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GOVERNMENT HEADLINES:
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Government Combinations -- GASB Proposal Issued
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The GASB issued for public comment a proposed statement that would provide U.S. state and local governments with guidance for financial reporting regarding government combinations (i.e., mergers, acquisitions, and transfers of operations) and disposals (i.e., sales and transfers) of government operations. The GASB is seeking public comment on its proposals, which are contained in its Exposure Draft, Government Combinations and Disposals of Government Operations.

The proposed statement is intended to improve accounting and financial reporting by providing standards for combinations in the governmental environment. Specifically, it would require state and local governments to:

-Identify whether a government combination is a government merger, government acquisition, or a transfer of operations;
-Use carrying values to measure the assets and liabilities combined in a government merger or transfer of operations;
-Measure acquired assets and liabilities based upon their acquisition values in a government acquisition; and
-Provide guidance for government operations that have been transferred or sold.

The proposed statement would also require disclosures to be made about government combinations and disposals of government operations to enable users of financial statements to evaluate the nature and financial effects of those transactions.

The amendments in this proposal would be effective for periods beginning after December 15, 2013, and would be applied on a prospective basis. Early application of the standards would be encouraged.

Comments on this proposal are due June 15, 2012.

Single Audits -- Updated Edition of Knowledge-Based Single Audits Published
For detail, please contact info@hkcmcpa.us

As discussed above in our Auditing and Internal Controls Summaries, we have published a new edition of Knowledge-Based Single Audits. This publication is designed to help the auditor accurately, efficiently and effectively perform the compliance audit portion of the single audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAS), Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), and the audit requirements in Circular A-133 issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. This edition of the publication includes revisions and updates to reflect current accounting authoritative literature and, among other things, pronouncements through:

-AICPA Statement on Auditing Standards No. 125, Alert That Restricts the Use of the Auditor’s Written Communication;
-AICPA Statement on Quality Control Standards No. 8, A Firm’s System of Quality Control; and
-The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued Government Auditing Standards, 2011 Internet Version (The Yellow Book).

See our Literature Update for complete details.

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