AICPA Would Like FASB, PCC to Keep Their Heads Up, Get Back to Work
AICPA President, CEO and former Mr. Universe Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA wrote a letter to the Financial Accounting Foundation recently to provide feedback on the FAF's review of the Private Company Council. This in and of itself, is not all that interesting, although you get the distinct impression that AICPA relishes in the opportunity to […]
FASB Supports the SEC’s Commitment to Tiptoeing Around IFRS Adoption Indefinitely
This week, the AICPA Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments is going down in Washington and unfortunately I am missing it this year as I'm due in Dallas this week for AccountingWEB Live which is exponentially more exciting (or something). Today, SEC Chief Accountant Jim Schnurr reiterated the commission's commitment to pussyfooting around any […]
Let’s Join FAF in Celebrating 40 Years of FASB!
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 […]
‘Little GAAP’ vs. Financial Reporting Framework: As a CPA, People Expect You to Know This Crap
Welcome to the latest edition of Accumulated Deprecation, Greg Kyte's monthly column. Go here to read more of Greg's posts.
NASBA Stands Behind FASB’s Private GAAP, Can’t Believe the AICPA’s Chutzpah
On Tuesday we discussed the AICPA's effort to offer a new OCBOA for small businesses, making special note of the Financial Accounting Foundation's slightly irritated response. While the FAF was fine with Melancon & Co. issuing the new Financial Reporting Framework (FRF) for SMEs, they wanted to remind everyone that FRF was most certainly not […]
Oh Great, the FASB Is Going to Spend the Next Twelve Months Celebrating Its Fortieth Anniversary
You know those friends who don't celebrate their birthday, rather they celebrate their birthday week? That's basically what we've got here with the Financial Accounting Foundation's announcement that there will be all kinds of reminders of the FASB's fortieth anniversary: [A] variety of events and activities intended to highlight the important role that the FASB […]
Kroeker Gets Cranky With the AICPA’s Private Company Accounting Ideas
Apparently SEC chief accountant James Kroeker does not appreciate the AICPA’s disapproval of the FAF’s new proposal to set up a Private Company Standards Improvement Council, calling the disapproval “a clear threat to the independence of the FAF.”
Accounting Today has the entire story but the short version is that Kroeker went off at Monday’s Standard & Poor’s Accounting Hot Topics Conference in New York, calling the AICPA’s resolution “egregious.”
In case you forgot, at last month’s fall meeting of AICPA Governing Council, members overwhelmingly approved a resolution that sent the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) a strong message: either FAF moves to adopt the Blue Ribbon Panel on Standard Setting for Private Companies’ (the Panel) recommendations for a separate board— which is the AICPA’s preference— or the AICPA will consider other options.
At that time, the AICPA made it clear that if FAF continued to pursue its current proposal, the AICPA board of directors would look at other solutions for addressing the needs of private companies. This could include creating a separate standard setting body to develop private company generally accepted accounting principles (PCGAAP) or a comprehensive private company-specific basis of accounting that would deliver meaningful, lasting improvement to private company financial reporting consistent with the Panel’s recommendations.
Maybe Kroeker should go hang with the AICPA and cuddle up to watch the upcoming webcasts that outline FAF’s proposal?
We’re not sure why Kroeker is so butthurt, nor why he would dare take on 350,000 CPAs by calling their wishes “egregious” but that’s a different matter entirely.
Russell Golden to Fill Bob Herz’s Seat on FASB; Chairmanship Next?
Directly from the mouths of babes in Norwalk:
The Board of Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) today announced the appointment of Russell G. Golden to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), effective October 1, 2010. Mr. Golden will fill the board member vacancy on the FASB resulting from the retirement of Robert H. Herz on September 30, 2010. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Golden served as technical director of the FASB.
Whether or not this is a pit stop for Russ on the way to the Chairmanship remains to be seen. Leslie Seidman is taking the “acting” role on October 1st and as the PCAOB has shown, that can last for awhile.
Mr. Golden’s initial term on the FASB will extend to June 30, 2012, the expiration date of the term left vacant by Mr. Herz’s retirement. As technical director of the FASB, Mr. Golden held primary responsibility for overseeing FASB staff work on all standards-setting projects, including major global and domestic projects and technical application and implementation of financial accounting and reporting standards. He also served as chair of the FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF).
“We are delighted to appoint Russ to the FASB,” said FAF Chairman John Brennan. “The FASB will be served well by his depth of technical knowledge in accounting, intimate familiarity with the projects on the board’s technical agenda, and his proven track record for reaching out to constituents and evaluating all available input when approaching financial reporting issues, solutions and improvements.”
Mr. Golden assumed his role as technical director of the FASB in June of 2008, and before that served in various roles at the FASB as a member of the senior staff. Previous to his tenure at the FASB, Mr. Golden was a partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP in the National Office Accounting Services department. Mr. Golden earned his Bachelor’s degree from Washington State University. He is a licensed CPA in the states of Washington and Connecticut.
As announced by the FAF Trustees on August 24, 2010, the FASB will return to a seven-member structure. The Board of Trustees is engaged in processes to recruit and evaluate candidates for the two additional seats and to evaluate candidates for appointment as FASB Chairman. FASB member Leslie F. Seidman will assume the role of Acting Chairman as of October 1, 2010, as previously announced. More details about the search process are discussed in a Q&A with Mr. Brennan.
While Mr. Golden was expected to be appointed to the board, rumors are that he won’t be the next Chairman of the FASB. Some people are saying that it is most likely that Leslie Seidman will get the “acting” dropped from her title or it will be one of the two new members that have yet to be appointed.
Financial Accounting Foundation Appoints Russell G. Golden to the Financial Accounting Standards Board [Business Wire]
Wonky Accounting Insight in 140 Characters or Less: The FASB Is Now on Twitter
Technically it’s the Financial Accounting Foundation that has the handle: @FAFNorwalk and it also includes anything the GASB but really the FASB is who we expect to go on the offensive here.
They’ll be able to take on the haters with pithy commentary, give us the latest on their (less) ambitious convergence efforts and maybe, if we’re really, really, really lucky Bob Herz will spin off his own version of @CrankyKaplan. @DisturbedHerz, perhaps?
We have hope.
FASB Overseers Hope That Motley Crue-ish Tour Will Help Win Some Fans Back
The Financial Accounting Foundation (“FAF”) trustees are going on a tour that will certainly rival the amount of groupie tail that Motley Crue was getting circa late 80s.
“The Financial Accounting Foundation trustees, who oversee the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), will meet with small closed discussion groups of investors, auditors, academics and regulators in New York, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C., as well as with the FASB’s standing advisory groups.”
It’s pretty clear that the FAF has the intention of spreading their seed knowledge around the country in order to win back some cred for the FASB.
FASB overseers to seek input on new strategic plan [Reuters via Accountancy Age]