Year in Review — 2022

by Magnus Orrell and Joseph Renouf, Deloitte & Touche LLP

Welcome to Quarterly Accounting Roundup: Year in Review — 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic may be on the wane, but companies and consumers continue to face challenges in the current macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, some of which started during the pandemic. Reports of continuing global supply-chain disruptions and labor shortages dominate the news and are top of mind for many financial executives. Common issues affecting CFOs include internal matters, such as employee retention, employee working arrangements, and cost management, and external concerns such as inflation, stagflation, and geopolitical tensions (e.g., the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war).

The annual AICPA & CIMA1 Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments returned to Washington, D.C., this year. The conference brings together key stakeholders to discuss developments in accounting, financial reporting, auditing, and other related matters, serving as a platform to address emerging areas of focus and trends affecting the profession.

For more information about the conference, see Deloitte’s December 18, 2022, Heads Up.

In more specific accounting news, the FASB’s standard-setting activities during 2022 included the issuance of final Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) that:

Amend the requirements related to troubled debt restructurings and vintage disclosures.
Clarify the fair value hedge accounting guidance in ASC 815.
Require enhanced disclosures about supplier finance programs.
Clarify the guidance in ASC 820 on fair value measurement of equity securities subject to sale restrictions.

In addition, in the fourth quarter of 2022, the FASB released several exposure drafts, including (1) proposed ASUs that would enhance the accounting for joint venture formations, amend the guidance on common-control lease arrangements, and improve reportable segment disclosures and (2) two proposed chapters of its Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting.

On the regulatory front, important SEC final rules include those on (1) “clawback” policies related to executive officers’ compensation and (2) pay versus performance. The Commission also released a new Staff Accounting Bulletin on accounting for obligations to safeguard crypto assets.

Quarterly Accounting Roundup: Year in Review — 2022 summarizes final guidance that affects reporting and disclosures for the coming reporting season. With the exception of fourth-quarter developments, proposed guidance is not included. For more information about earlier proposals, please see issues of Quarterly Accounting Roundup for the first three quarters of 2022.

In addition, in this year-end edition, an asterisk in the article title denotes events that occurred in the fourth quarter, including updates to previously reported topics, or that were not addressed in previous 2022 issues of Quarterly Accounting Roundup. Events without asterisks were covered in previous issues.

Footnotes

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Conclusions of the FASB, GASB, IASB, and IFRS Interpretations Committee are subject to change at future meetings and generally do not affect current accounting requirements until an official position (e.g., Accounting Standards Update or IFRS Accounting Standards) is issued. Official positions are determined only after extensive deliberation and due process, including a formal vote.

Further information about the standard setters can be found on their respective Web sites as follows: www.fasb.org (FASB); https://www.fasb.org/page/PageContent?pageId=/about-us/advisory-groups/eitf/openissuesandproposedagenda.html (EITF); https://www.aicpa-cima.com/home (AICPA & CIMA); www.sec.gov (SEC); https://pcaobus.org (PCAOB); https://fasab.gov (FASAB); www.gasb.org (GASB); and www.ifrs.org (IASB and ISSB).

Quarterly Accounting Roundup is prepared by members of Deloitte’s National Office. The purpose of this publication is to briefly describe key regulatory and professional developments that have recently occurred in the field of accounting and to provide links to locations where additional information can be found on each topic. Readers seeking additional information about a topic should review the information referred to in the hyperlinks and not rely solely on the descriptions included in this communication.

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