FASB’s new man talks advanced accounting topics

The accounting standards setting group in the United States is known as the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and consists of seven board members who are appointed to five year terms. The most recent appointment was Thomas J. Linsmeier, and CFO.com has a pretty good interview with him on some of the issues currently facingContinue reading “FASB’s new man talks advanced accounting topics”

FASB and AICPA seek small, private company input

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the American Institute of CPAs have announced a joint project whose aim is to seek “constituent feedback on proposed enhancements to the FASB’s standard-setting procedures that would determine whether the Board should consider differences in accounting standards for private companies.” This is the classic conundrum commonly known to thoseContinue reading “FASB and AICPA seek small, private company input”

More discussion of rules versus principles

Dennis over at AccMan Pro has commented on the difference between rules-based US GAAP and international principles-based IFRS, and his thoughts echo mine: Recent commentary has suggested the idea of convergence between US GAAP and IFRS won’t happen until hell freezes over. I’ve long held the view that the rules based US GAAP system isContinue reading “More discussion of rules versus principles”

Nortel completes latest restatement

Nortel released their 2005 financials Friday and completed more restatements of prior years’ results. The restatements related to revenue recognition and decreased revenues and net income because the revenue should’ve been booked in different periods. Maybe this will mark a turning point for the Canadian communications equipment company and they can retain (or regain) theirContinue reading “Nortel completes latest restatement”

Nortel’s revenue recognition wrinkles

Om Malik, writer at Business 2.0 and power blogger, has posted his thoughts on the Nortel announcement from a couple days ago that they would have to restate their earnings again. His reaction is one of incredulity that Nortel, “a big NYSE company,” could actually not be able to get their accounting straightened out afterContinue reading “Nortel’s revenue recognition wrinkles”