As chaotic as the new rules for fair-value accounting have been so far, the financial reporting community can expect still more heartburn ahead.
A double-whammy looms in early 2009. First, certain portions of Financial Accounting Statement No. 157, Fair Value Measurement, that had been delayed for a year will finally go into effect. Those deferred portions deal with non-recurring, non-financial items such as intangible assets, contingencies, asset retirement obligations, goodwill—items that usually crop up in mergers or acquisitions.
Then comes the second punch: At the same time, companies will start applying FAS 141R, Business Combinations, a revised standard for how to ...