Highlights from NAAATS

I attended the AICPA National Advanced Accounting and Auditing Technical Symposium (NAAATS) July 16th and 17th, 2009. Here are a few highlights from that conference. (In many cases the speakers from the various organizations were discussing activities that they have completed over the last year.)

FASB

The big news of course is that the FASB Accounting Standards Codification™ was launched July 1, 2009. It is now the single source of authoritative nongovernmental U.S. GAAP. All other accounting literature not included in the Codification is nonauthoritative.

FASB Standards as we know them are now “legacy” standards. They will continue to be available on the FASB website. Individual standards will be issued in the form of Codification Updates numbered according to year and the order in which it is issued. So the first update of 2010 will be 2010-01.

All existing accounting standards documents are superseded as described in SFAS No. 168, The FASB Accounting Standards Codification™ and the Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, a replacement of FASB Statement No. 162.

The Codification is effective for financial statements issued for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009.

The FASB is working on the following major projects:
Conceptual Framework
Reporting Discontinued Operations
Financial Statement Presentation
Revenue Recognition
Leases
Emissions Trading Schemes
Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity
Financial Instruments-Improvements to Recognition and Measurement

PCOAB

News from the PCAOB is that financial statements of non-public broker-dealers for fiscal years ending after December 31, 2008 must be certified by a registered public accounting firm.

The PCAOB has two proposed auditing standards, out for comment Proposed Auditing Standard — Engagement Quality Review (EQR) (March 2009) and Proposed Standards Related to the Auditor’s Assessment of and Response to Risk out for comment (December 2008). The latter is a suite of seven new auditing standards related to the auditor's assessment of and responses to risk and related conforming amendments.

The PCAOB has a concept release, Audit Confirmations Concept Release (April 14, 2009) and two Staff Audit Practice Alerts, No. 3, Audit Considerations in the Current Economic Environment and No. 4, Auditor Considerations Regarding Fair Value Measurements, Disclosures, and Other-Than-Temporary Impairments.

Auditing Standards Board

The ASB is currently working on:

Revisions to SAS 74 and other confirming changes to PCIE report
Revisions to SAS 70
Revisions to auditing estimates and fair value
Finalizing SAS 69 to remove GAAP hierarchy for FASB, GASB, and FASAB incorporation
Revising AU 534, “Financial Statements Prepared for Use in Other Countries” because IFRS is now recognized as equivalent U.S. GAAP.

The Board also has two exposure drafts:

Proposed Preface to the Codification of Statements on Auditing Standards
Proposed Statement on Auditing Standards Overall Objectives of the Independent Auditor and the Conduct of an Audit in Accordance With Generally Accepted Auditing Standards.

Watch for more details on activities of professional standard setting bodies at www.cpafirmsupport.com

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