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Columns By Former SEC Chief Accountant Scott Taub

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The former deputy chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Scott Taub spent more than four years at the SEC, including a year as acting chief accountant. In his tenure there, he played a key role in the Commission’s implementation of the accounting reforms under the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley Act. He is an observer on FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force, and chair of the accounting and disclosure standing committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions. Some of Taub’s most recent columns for Compliance Week are below:

  Title & Description Date Type of Article
1. Helping Yourself: Send FASB Useful Comment Letters
My first column this year discussed a few hopes for 2010. One of them happened in February, when the Securities and Exchange Commission clarified its thinking about International Financial Reporting Standards. I’m happy to report that another happened in June, as the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued several exposure drafts as part of its big push to improve and converge U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and IFRS, and announced a slower timetable for completion of the 15 or so projects on its agenda.
 By Scott Taub
07/27/10 Columns & Editorials
2. Getting to IFRS With Wisdom, Not Expediency
In my first column this year, I wrote that I hoped the Securities and Exchange Commission would soon give us some clarity on its thinking in regard to moving U.S. reporting companies to International Financial Reporting Standards to calm some of the anxiety regarding that potential move. My wish was fulfilled in February when the SEC issued its “Commission Statement in Support of Convergence and Global Accounting Standards.”
 By Scott Taub
05/25/10 Columns & Editorials
3. Evolving Answers on Good Accounting Policy
One of my partners at Financial Reporting Advisors is fond of saying about accounting, “The questions never change.” He’s been watching accounting policy for a lot longer than I have, but even in my relatively brief time, I’ve seen enough to know he’s right.
 By Scott Taub
03/30/10 Columns & Editorials
4. Remaining Hopeful for Governance in 2010
For the past 18 months or so, almost everything in the financial reporting world seems to have been about the credit crisis and recession. The focus has been on whether accounting standards should be changed, whether impairments were being recorded quickly enough, whether risk disclosures were sufficient, and so forth.
 By Scott Taub
01/26/10 Columns & Editorials
5. A Bundle of Concerns on New Revenue Rules
I recently wrote about the opportunities and challenges that the new Financial Accounting Standards Nos. 166 and 167 bring to U.S. financial reporting. My fear was that the new standards won’t help improve financial reporting not because of shortcomings in the standards themselves, but because experience suggests that implementation of the standards might not go the way we all would like.
 By Scott Taub
11/24/09 Columns & Editorials
6. How to Handle the Five Habits of Difficult Auditors
In previous columns here, I’ve often talked about how to handle difficult accounting issues. I have not, however, talked about how to handle auditor issues. It’s time that I do.
 By Scott Taub
09/29/09 Columns & Editorials
7. Farewell to the QSPE; FASB Makes a Fresh Start
With the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s recent publication of standards No. 166, Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets, and No. 167, Amendments to FASB Interpretation No. 46(R), the end of the qualified special purpose entity is, thankfully, close at hand. We should all celebrate.
 By Scott Taub
07/28/09 Columns & Editorials
8. Finding Firmer Ground for Your Accounting Ideas
The Commissioners and staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission are great people: smart, talented, personable. Nonetheless, I would guess that most Compliance Week readers would like to interact with them as little as possible. I'm here to help.
 By Scott Taub
05/27/09 Columns & Editorials
9. IFRS & U.S. GAAP: Where Do We Stand?
In late 2007, I predicted in a presentation that U.S. companies would be using International Financial Reporting Standards as their basis of accounting within 10 years. In the Q&A that followed, two audience members said my prediction was ridiculous; one said the United States wouldn’t move that quickly, while the other said there was no way it would take so long.
 By Scott Taub
03/31/09 Columns & Editorials
10. Lessons Learned in 2008 That Will Benefit in 2009
I think I can safely say most of us are happy to see 2008 recede into history. While the economic crisis of last year was not primarily one of financial reporting, it did expose the shortcomings in our financial reporting structure. That exposure can (and should) lead to future improvements, so in this column I want to reflect on how the painful events of 2008 can propel us forward into a better 2009.
 By Scott Taub
01/27/09 Columns & Editorials
11. Accounting’s Role in the Market Bailout
Some of my friends and relatives ask me who to blame for their 401(k) losses, the $700 billion bailout, and the fact that they can’t refinance their mortgage.
 By Scott Taub
11/25/08 Compliance Week Coverage
12. How the PCAOB Fares After Five Years on the Job
It has been more than six years since the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, five years since the Securities and Exchange Commission declared the PCAOB operational, and four years since the PCAOB started its first inspections of registered public accounting firms. The PCAOB’s work, in combination with other changes in the capital markets, has significantly increased confidence in financial statement audits. And the PCAOB board members and staff have shown themselves to be capable, dedicated, and devoted to their important public policy role.
 By Scott Taub
09/30/08 Compliance Week Coverage
13. Reaching a Fair Settlement on Fair Value
In the year I’ve been writing for Compliance Week, one subject I haven’t broached is fair-value accounting. I'm not alone; the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee to Improve Financial Reporting has decided not to touch it either, while offering recommendations on all manner of other nettlesome problems. Nonetheless, the debate continues over fair value versus historical cost accounting. Since I’ve seemingly heard every argument on all sides of this debate, it’s probably time for me to speak up, too.
 By Scott Taub
07/29/08 Columns & Editorials
14. CIFR Reforms: What’s Right, What’s Left Out
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting has kept itself busy this spring. In February, it issued a progress report that summarized its potential recommendations to simplify financial reporting; in March and May, it held follow-up meetings to discuss those ideas more thoroughly. I’ve already written about CIFR’s recommendation regarding a professional judgment framework, but there are a lot of other interesting potential recommendations that deserve some consideration, too—not just from the members of the committee, but also from Compliance Week readers.
 By Scott Taub
05/28/08 Columns & Editorials
15. Judgment Call: How to Make the Most of CIFR Proposal
Financial reporting is much more useful when those preparing the financial statements apply their expertise and judgment in an attempt to reflect the business in the most meaningful way. But in the difficult litigation and regulatory environment that has enveloped the accounting profession most of this decade, many accountants associate applying judgment with playing Russian roulette and would rather follow rules—formal or informal—instead.
 By Scott Taub
03/25/08 Columns & Editorials
16. So You Think You Know the SEC ...
The last year since I left the Securities and Exchange Commission has been a real eye-opener for me in lots of ways.
 By Scott Taub
01/29/08 Columns & Editorials
17. The Real Enemy of Financial Reporting: Us
In December 2005, while I was Acting Chief Accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and I both spoke about reducing the complexity of financial reporting. We weren’t the first to mention this, and we weren’t the last, as the topic has been continually discussed in the two years since. In my current job, at least several times a week, either I remark or my client remarks about how complicated the accounting is. The responses to the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s annual survey of constituents about its agenda contain repeated requests to simplify accounting standards. FASB, the SEC and its staff, preparers, auditors, and investors alike have been asking for requirements to be made simpler, more transparent, and easier to understand. And I would guess everybody reading this article is in favor of reducing complexity in financial reporting.
 By Scott Taub
11/27/07 Columns & Editorials
18. IFRS and GAAP: The Good and the Bad
For decades, we in the United States have generally believed that our accounting standards are the best in the world. Much of the rest of the world has reinforced that view by accepting financial statements prepared under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for use in their markets. But International Financial Reporting Standards are now accepted or required in more than 100 countries. The United States is virtually the only developed market that does not accept financial statements prepared under IFRS.
 By Scott Taub
09/25/07 Columns & Editorials
19. Setting Testing Levels For 404 Compliance
I was acting chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission in May 2003 when the Commission’s first set of rules implementing the provisions of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act—the section that requires management and auditor reporting on internal controls—were passed. No other part of SOX has generated nearly as much controversy, anger, frustration, or backlash. On the other hand, no part of SOX has as much potential to contribute to investor confidence and high-quality financial reporting over the long term as Section 404.
 By Scott Taub
07/31/07 Compliance Week Coverage
20. Avoiding Unnecessary Restatements
There are too many restatements. I’d wager that everybody reading this column agrees with those first five words, and that’s why I used them to start off my first column for Compliance Week.
 By Scott Taub
05/08/07 Columns & Editorials

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