Action Alert No. 07-44
November 1, 2007
NOTICE OF MEETINGS
OPEN BOARD MEETING
(Board
meetings are available by audio webcast and telephone.)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007, 9:30 a.m.
The Board meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. instead of 9:00
a.m.
- Agenda decision: deferral of the effective date of Interpretation
48 for nonpublic entities (estimated 45-minute discussion).
The Board will discuss whether to add a project to its agenda to defer
the effective date of FASB Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for
Uncertainty in Income Taxes, for nonpublic entities and whether
guidance should be issued for pass-through entities.
- Statement 133
hedging (estimated 90-minute discussion). The Board will
discuss a fair value hedging approach to accounting for hedging
activities in the context of cash flow hedges.
- Open discussion. If necessary, the Board will allow time to
discuss minor issues with staff members on technical projects or
administrative matters. Those discussions are held following regular
Board meetings as topics come up.
OPEN EDUCATION SESSIONS
Wednesday, November 7, 2007, 8:00 a.m.
Wednesday, November 7,
2007, following the Board meeting
The Board will hold educational, non-decision-making sessions to
discuss topics that are anticipated to be discussed at a future Board
meeting. Those topics will be posted to the FASB calendar four
days prior to the education sessions.
BOARD ACTIONS
The Board Actions are provided for the information and convenience
of constituents who want to follow the Board’s deliberations. All of the
conclusions reported are tentative and may be changed at future Board
meetings. Decisions are included in an Exposure Draft for formal comment
only after a formal written ballot. Decisions in an Exposure Draft may be
(and often are) changed in redeliberations based on information provided
to the Board in comment letters, at public roundtable discussions, and
through other communication channels. Decisions become final only after a
formal written ballot to issue a final Statement, Interpretation, FSP, or
Statement 133 Implementation Issue.
October 22, 2007 Joint FASB and IASB Board Meeting
Financial
statement presentation. The Boards discussed the proposed content
and style of the discussion paper outlining their preliminary views. Board
members had questions on aspects of the draft outline but generally agreed
with the staff’s proposal. The Boards also agreed with the list of
remaining issues that the staff plans to discuss with the Boards in the
coming months. On the basis of that timetable, the Preliminary Views would
be published in the second quarter of 2008.
Conceptual
framework: objectives and qualitative characteristics. The Boards
tentatively decided that the forthcoming Exposure Draft on the objective
of financial reporting and the qualitative characteristics of
decision-useful information will have a comment period of 120 days.
Conceptual
framework: elements and recognition. The Boards resumed their
discussion of a working definition of an asset and tentatively
decided:
An asset of an entity is a present economic resource to which,
through an enforceable right or other means, the entity has access or
can limit the access of others.
Amplifying text accompanying the asset definition will describe
economic resource, enforceable right, and other means.
Revenue
recognition. In 2002, the Boards launched their joint project on
revenue recognition. The objective of the project is to develop a single
coherent asset and liability model for revenue recognition. In such a
model, revenue is a function of changes in assets and liabilities and is
not based on the notions of realization and the completion of an earnings
process.
Throughout 2002–2006, the Boards explored a model in which the assets
and liabilities would be measured at fair value (a fair value model) and a
model in which the assets and liabilities would be measured by reference
to the customer consideration (an allocated customer consideration
model).
In October 2006, the Boards decided that instead of trying to forge a
single, compromise model at this stage in the project, they should aim to
get a better and more complete understanding about what both models would
look like and what each would entail. They also decided that an initial
due process document should explain and illustrate the two models and that
this would form a basis for seeking comments from interested parties.
Therefore, over the past year, the staff and two groups of Board
advocates (each drawn from both Boards) have developed two revenue
recognition models. At this meeting, the staff provided a summary of each
of the models together with some examples. (The summaries and the examples
were included in the handout for this meeting, available on the FASB
website.)
The discussion was primarily informational and no technical decisions
were reached. Board members commented on aspects of the models that they
wanted to see explained more fully in subsequent meetings.
October 23, 2007 Joint FASB and IASB Board Meeting
Accounting
principles for derecognizing financial assets. The Memorandum of
Understanding states that the Boards expect to have published by 2008 a
due process document based on the results of staff research on
derecognition. The objective of this meeting was to educate the Boards on
how the research has been conducted and to present the staff’s core
conclusions on principles for derecognizing financial assets measured at
fair value.
The Boards
- Directed the staff to report back on two alternative views of when
financial assets expected to settle financial liabilities should be
presented together in the financial statements (“linked presentation”)
- Advised the staff to incorporate in the research report on
derecognition a chapter that identifies potential issues that will need
to be considered when the scope of research is extended beyond financial
instruments
- Indicated that the proposed derecognition principle was appealing
and that they intend to maintain momentum in discussions with the
objective of moving toward a common set of derecognition principles.
FUTURE OPEN MEETINGS
The following is a list of open meetings tentatively scheduled through
December. Because schedules may change, please check the FASB calendar before
finalizing your plans. Revisions to this list since the last issue of
Action Alert are highlighted in bold.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007—Investors Technical Advisory Committee
Meeting
Wednesday, November 14, 2007—FASB Board Meeting
Wednesday,
November 14, 2007—FASB Education Session
Friday, November 16,
2007—Liaison Meeting with Chartered Financial Analysts
Institute
Wednesday, November 21, 2007—FASB Board Meeting
Wednesday,
November 21, 2007—FASB Education Session
Wednesday, November 28,
2007—FASB Board Meeting
Thursday, November 29, 2007—Emerging Issues
Task Force Meeting
Wednesday, December 5, 2007—FASB Board
Meeting
Wednesday, December 5, 2007—FASB Education Session
Thursday,
December 6, 2007—Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council
Meeting
Friday, December 7, 2007—Small Business Advisory Committee
Meeting
Wednesday, December 12, 2007—FASB Board Meeting
Wednesday,
December 12, 2007—FASB Education Session
Wednesday, December 19,
2007—FASB Board Meeting
Wednesday, December 19, 2007—FASB Education
Session
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