Action Alert No. 08-45
November 6, 2008

NOTICE OF MEETINGS

OPEN BOARD MEETING
(Board meetings are available by audio webcast and telephone.)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 8:00 a.m.

The Board meeting will begin at 8:00 a.m. instead of 9:00 a.m.

  1. FAS 140 and FIN 46(R) disclosure requirements (estimated 2-hour discussion). The Board will begin redeliberations and discuss comments received on proposed FSP FAS 140-e and FIN 46(R)-e, Disclosures about Transfers of Financial Assets and Interests in Variable Interest Entities.

  2. Mergers and acquisitions by a not-for-profit organization (estimated 1-hour discussion). The Board will discuss the disclosure, effective date, and transition provisions for final Statements on mergers and acquisitions of not-for-profit organizations and goodwill and other intangible assets. The Board also will consider drafting matters, including whether to proceed toward drafting a single final Statement or separate Statements.

  3. 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 SESSION

Wednesday, November 12, 2008, following the Board meeting

The Board will hold an educational, non-decision-making session 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 session.

OPEN JOINT FASB/IASB ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
(Access to an audio webcast of the roundtables will be available via the IASB website.)

Holborn Bars
138—142 Holborn
London EC1N 2NQ

Friday, November 14, 2008
Morning session, 10:30 a.m. London time
Afternoon session, 1:00 p.m. London time

The FASB and IASB will hold the first of three public roundtable discussions to identify financial reporting issues highlighted by the global financial crisis. The Boards will hear input from a wide range of stakeholders including users and preparers of financial statements, regulators, and others. The roundtables are intended to help the Boards identify any accounting issues that may require the urgent and immediate attention of the Boards to improve financial reporting and help enhance investor confidence in financial markets. Participants in the roundtables also will be asked to identify issues to which the Boards should give longer-term consideration.

The Boards also have announced the establishment of an advisory group of senior business leaders with broad international experience in financial markets to provide advice to the Boards. The insights gained at the roundtables will help the deliberations of this group. The composition of the advisory group will be announced shortly.

To register your interest in attending a roundtable session (either as a participant or as an observer) please send an email to Victoria Blackburn at vblackburn@iasb.org (ref: financial crisis roundtable) with details of your name and the organization you are representing. Please state whether you would like to take part in or to observe the session.

OPEN MEETING OF THE INVESTORS TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
(This meeting is available by audio webcast and telephone.)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

The Investors Technical Advisory Committee will meet with the Board to discuss matters of mutual interest.

OPEN MEETING OF THE EMERGING ISSUES TASK FORCE
(This meeting is available by audio webcast and telephone.)

Thursday, November 13, 2008, 8:30 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.

The Task Force plans to discuss all of the following issues in the order shown:

  1. Issue No. 08-1, "Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables"

  2. Issue No. 08-9, "Milestone Method of Revenue Recognition"

  3. Issue No. 08-8, "Accounting for an Instrument (or an Embedded Feature) with a Settlement Amount That Is Based on the Stock of an Entity's Consolidated Subsidiary"

  4. Issue No. 08-10, "Selected Statement 160 Implementation Questions"

  5. Issue No. 08-7, "Accounting for Defensive Intangible Assets"

  6. Issue No. 08-6, "Accounting for Equity Method Investments"

  7. Issue No. 08-11, "Accounting for Stock Lending Arrangements."

SUMMARY OF BOARD DECISIONS

Summary of Board decisions 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 standard.

October 29, 2008 Board Meeting

Disclosures about benefit plan assets. The Board redeliberated proposed FSP FAS 132(R)-a, Employers' Disclosures about Postretirement Benefit Plan Assets. The Board decided to amend FASB Statement No. 132 (revised 2003), Employers' Disclosures about Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits, to require that an employer disclose the following information about the fair value of plan assets:

  1. The level within the fair value hierarchy in which fair value measurements of plan assets fall

  2. Information about the inputs and valuation techniques used to measure the fair value of plan assets

  3. A reconciliation of beginning and ending balances for fair value measurements of plan assets using significant unobservable inputs (level 3).

The Board decided that the final FSP will be effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2009, with early application permitted. At initial adoption, application of the FSP would not be required for earlier periods that are presented for comparative purposes.

Assets and liabilities arising from contingencies in a business combination. The Board reached the following decisions on a proposed FSP to amend current requirements for accounting for assets and liabilities arising from contingencies in a business combination in FASB Statement No. 141 (revised 2007), Business Combinations.

The Board agreed not to include contingent consideration in the scope of the project. The Board determined that initial recognition and measurement of assets and liabilities arising from contingencies should follow a model similar to the one in FASB Statement No. 141, Business Combinations, with additional clarification of situations under which fair value is "reasonably estimable," similar to the requirements in FASB Interpretation No. 47, Accounting for Conditional Asset Retirement Obligations.

The Board agreed to retain the subsequent measurement and accounting guidance in Statement 141 (R) for assets and liabilities initially recognized at fair value, with additional clarification to address derecognition.

The Board determined that disclosures should include the nature of the contingency, the measurement attribute applied, and, if not measured at fair value, the reason that fair value could not be reasonably estimated. Additional disclosures would depend on the initial measurement attribute applied.

The effective date of this FSP will be the same as Statement 141 (R).

Agenda decision announcements. The FASB chairman announced the following agenda decisions:

  1. A project was added to the Board's agenda to reconsider the guidance in FASB Statement No. 141 (revised 2007), Business Combinations, related to preacquisition contingencies.

  2. The FASB will join the IASB in its accounting for insurance contracts project, which will become a joint project going forward.

  3. The second phase of the fair value options project was removed from the Board's agenda.

FASB DOCUMENT AVAILABLE

Proposed FSP FIN 48-c, Effective Date of FASB Interpretation No. 48 for Certain Nonpublic Enterprises, was issued and posted to the FASB website on November 5, 2008. Comments are requested by December 5, 2008.

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.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008—FASB Board Meeting
Wednesday, November 19, 2008—FASB Education Session
Tuesday, November 25, 2008—Joint FASB/IASB Global Financial Crisis Roundtable, Norwalk, CT
Tuesday, November 25, 2008—FASB Board Meeting (canceled)
Tuesday, November 25, 2008—FASB Education Session (canceled)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008—FASB Board Meeting (canceled)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008—FASB Education Session (canceled)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008—Joint FASB/IASB Global Financial Crisis Roundtable, Tokyo, JAPAN
Thursday, December 4, 2008—FASB Education Session
Wednesday, December 10, 2008—FASB Board Meeting
Wednesday, December 10, 2008—FASB Education Session
Friday, December 12, 2008—Small Business Advisory Committee Meeting
Monday, December 15, 2008—Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council Meeting
Wednesday, December 17, 2008—FASB Board Meeting
Wednesday, December 17, 2008—FASB Education Session
Tuesday, December 23, 2008—FASB Board Meeting
Tuesday, December 23, 2008—FASB Education Session