Tammy Whitehouse

While the job description for today’s audit committee member has exploded with a host of new responsibilities, tax risk is fast moving to the front of the line as a concern. Yes, risk in general has taken on new meaning for corporate boards and their audit committees, but audit committees are particularly taking tax risk […]

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is planning—without much enthusiasm—to amend its definition of “fair value” to provide an exception strictly for purposes of lease accounting. FASB staff asked the Board last week to consider an exception to its definition of fair value in Financial Accounting Standard No. 157, Fair Value Measurements, based on feedback since […]

With filing deadlines approaching, companies holding dramatically devalued securities as a result of sub-prime mortgage failures are bracing to disclose their current market values, according to new cues emerging from regulators and auditors. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants recently issued a brief reminder to auditors to get good evidence for valuations of alternative […]

Accounting standards setters plan to unveil early next year an entirely new way to present financial statements, establishing some potentially radical new concepts in how the markets digest corporate financial information. The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are on a mission to create a more orderly, cohesive presentation of financial […]

Accounting standards setters plan to unveil early next year an entirely new way to present financial statements, establishing some potentially radical new concepts in how the markets digest corporate financial information. The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are on a mission to create a more orderly, cohesive presentation of financial […]

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is backpedaling its plans to update rules on accounting for contingencies in business mergers to address an underlying problem: how to account for contingencies generally. Contingencies are potential liabilities, such as lawsuits, that add an element of uncertainty to financial reporting because the ultimate outcome of the event is not […]

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is looking for a way shore up loopholes in accounting for various types of convertible securities to assure the economic consequences are clear in financial statements. FASB published Proposed Staff Position APB14-a last week to establish a specific method for allocating a portion of proceeds on conversion to equity, assuring […]

Policymakers are leaning hard on a razor-thin interpretation of an accounting rule to help contain the sub-prime mortgage collapse and prevent it from infecting the broader financial markets. Yet simultaneously, that same accounting rule may be headed for the shredder. A pivotal point in policymakers’ plan for minimizing mortgage default is an interpretation of Financial […]