So, who has the cake?
In honor of the 40th anniversary of FASB, FAF has rolled out a new section on its website featuring audio, transcripts and photos from the September’s FASB@40 Conference among other things, like video of all former, still living chairmen (I like how they qualified the "living" part in the email alert to media, as if we thought they'd invest in a Marshall Armstrong hologram) talking about their time at FASB.
And then there is the "Digital Timeline" which explains the history of FASB thusly: "The job of setting accounting standards in the world’s most powerful, dynamic economy falls on one organization: the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). For the last 40 years, the FASB has been laser-focused on one core mission: to establish and improve financial accounting and reporting standards in the U.S. in order to provide decision-useful information to investors and other users of financial reports. The FASB is proud of its long history and work to date, and looks forward to an equally fruitful future."
DYNAMIC!
The cool part is current chairman Russ Golden recognizes that FASB isn't nearly as popular as, say, people who work for PwC think they are, but that doesn't stop the board from doing their important work. In his closing remarks at the FASB@40 he said:
As all of you know, our work has not always earned us the top award for popularity. In fact, some folks over the years have said some downright unkind things about us. But in standard setting, seeking to do the ―right thing is rarely the path to victory in the contest to be the most popular. That‘s as it should be.
*looks around sheepishly* He isn't talking about us, is he? I think we've been pretty nice to FASB for the most part, except that time I said Bob Herz totally looks like a stress doll. But I've read some of those comment letters, especially the FAS 157 (EXCUSE me, I mean ASC 820) ones that brought all kinds of weirdos out of the woodwork to comment, so I get what Russ is saying. It's a pretty thankless job.
If you're into this stuff — and who isn't amiright? — then poke around over there and check out it out.
Happy birthday, FASB, and just think, a few more years and you'll be old enough for me to want to date.
