FASB News
Final Version of Disclosure Framework Amendments Slated for Mid-Year
In the coming months, FASB plans to publish the guide it first proposed more than four years ago to help it write consistent, effective footnote disclosure requirements for its standards. By a 5–2 vote, the board agreed to publish its Disclosure Framework, which it plans to use as a reference guide when it debates which disclosures businesses and organizations must make. Board members hope the Disclosure Framework helps them find the correct mix of guidance for footnote disclosures and information that is reported on the face of the financial statements. “I do believe the framework is a very good starting point and will help both this board and future boards come to a consistent philosophy on how to improve disclosures for financial reporting,” FASB Chairman Russell Golden said.
Update Erases Outdated Regulatory Guidance from Financial Services Standard
On May 7, FASB published an update to U.S. GAAP that erases a reference in its financial services standard to a 1985 Office of the Comptroller circular that has since been rescinded. The amendment is effective immediately, FASB said. The final amendment comes from a proposal released in June 2017 as proposed Accounting Standard Update (ASU) 2017-260, Technical Corrections and Improvements to Topic 942: Financial Services—Depository and Lending—Elimination of Certain Guidance for Bad Debt Reserves of Savings and Loans. The update is part of FASB’s regular effort to comb through the Accounting Standards Codification to eliminate errors and make improvements.
AICPA News
ASB to Consider Changes to Attestation Standards
The AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board (ASB) may issue a proposal to revise its attestation standards and give accountants flexibility in performing certain limited procedures at a meeting. The upcoming proposal would let accountants examine or review various matters without having the responsible party state that the subject matter complies with an underlying criterion such as a measurement or law. “Some clients are unwilling or feel unable to appropriately measure or evaluate and therefore they cannot provide an assertion,” the ASB said. “For example, when the engaging party and the responsible party are not the same, the responsible party may be unwilling to provide the assertion because they are not the engaging party, and the engaging party may be reluctant to provide the assertion because they did not perform the measurement of the subject matter.”
