Back in the halcyon days of June 2006, the Dow was 11,000, unemployment was 4.6 percent, and our collective mood was best described by the title of the movie, “On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever.”
So, too, apparently, was the mood at the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which issued Financial Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, to a chorus of objections and predictions of its awful consequences. Objections and predictions notwithstanding, FIN 48 took effect, with last year the first year of status quo FIN 48 compliance. In these uncertain times, boards and managements should ...