The creation of a high-profile committee to examine ways to simplify the rules for financial reporting could breathe new life into a related debate: how to simplify the creation of those rules in the first place.
Amid much fanfare, the Securities and Exchange Commission appointed a new Committee to Improve Financial Reporting in June. Its mandate is to study the causes of complexity, and recommend “how to make financial reports clearer and more beneficial to investors, reduce costs and unnecessary burdens for preparers, and better utilize advances in technology to enhance all aspects of financial reporting,” according to SEC statements.
