FASB AND IASB TO FORM JOINT TRANSITION RESOURCE GROUP FOR REVENUE
RECOGNITION
Norwalk, CT and London, UK, July 26, 2013—The
International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting
Standards Board (FASB) today formally announced plans to create a joint
transition resource group focused on the upcoming final converged standard on
revenue recognition.
The transition group will be responsible for
informing the IASB and the FASB about interpretive issues that could arise when
companies, institutions, and other organizations implement the revenue
recognition standard. It will solicit, analyze, and discuss stakeholder issues
that apply to common transactions that could reasonably create diversity in
practice. In addition to providing a forum to discuss the application of the
requirements, the transition group will provide information that will help the
Boards determine what, if any, action will be needed to resolve that diversity.
The group itself will not issue guidance.
The resource group will
convene following the final issuance of the revenue recognition standard later
this year. The group is intended to have a limited life and the primary
activities of the group are planned to occur before the standard takes effect in
2017.
Russell G. Golden, Chairman of the FASB commented
"Effective implementation of the revenue recognition standard is critical to
its success in providing financial statement users with the information they
need to make the right decisions about how to allocate their capital. The Boards
are committed to ensuring a smooth transition to the new standard, and the
transition resource group is an important tool for determining any areas that
will need additional guidance before the standard becomes effective in
2017."
Hans Hoogervorst, Chairman of the IASB
commented "Revenue is a key performance indicator and is important
to every business. Our joint transition group will help to ensure that
stakeholders are reading the words in the new revenue standard in the way that
we intend that they be read."
The transition group will consist of
10 to 15 specialists representing financial statement preparers, auditors,
regulators, users, and other stakeholders as well as members of the IASB and
FASB. Transition group members will be announced shortly after the final
standard is issued.
Stakeholders will be encouraged to submit
implementation issues to the transition group. Submissions that meet the Boards´
minimum guidelines—such as broad applicability, potential to create diversity in
practice, if industry specific broad applicability to industry, etc.—will be
presented by IASB and FASB staff at public transition group meetings. Guidelines
for submitting issues will be posted to the Boards´ respective websites after
issuance of the final standard.
More information about the activities of
the revenue recognition transition resource group will be available at http://www.ifrs.org/ and http://www.fasb.org/.
Contacts:
Christine Klimek, Senior Manager, Media Relations, Financial
Accounting Foundation
Telephone: 203.956.3459
Email: clklimek@f-a-f.org
Chris
Welsh, Communications Manager, IFRS Foundation
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7246
6495
Email: cwelsh@ifrs.org
Mark Byatt, Director of Communications and External Affairs, IFRS
Foundation
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7246 6472
Email: mbyatt@ifrs.org
About the Financial Accounting Standards
Board
Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has
been the designated organization in the private sector for establishing
standards of financial accounting and reporting. Those standards govern the
preparation of financial reports and are officially recognized as authoritative
by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants. Such standards are essential to the efficient
functioning of the economy because investors, creditors, auditors, and others
rely on credible, transparent, and comparable financial information. For more
information about the FASB, visit our website at http://www.fasb.org/.
About the
International Accounting Standards Board
The IASB was
established in 2001 and is the standard-setting body of the IFRS Foundation, an
independent, private sector, not-for-profit organization. The IASB is committed
to developing, in the public interest, a single set of high quality, global
accounting Standards that provide high quality, transparent and comparable
information in general purpose financial statements. In pursuit of this
objective the IASB conducts extensive public consultations and seeks the
co-operation of international and national bodies around the world. The IASB has
16 full-time members drawn from 11 countries and a variety of professional
backgrounds. Board members are appointed by, and accountable to, the Trustees of
the IFRS Foundation, who are required to select the best available combination
of technical expertise and diversity of international business and market
experience. In their work the Trustees are accountable to a Monitoring Board of
public authorities.