New Revenue-Recognition Rules: The Apple of Apple's Eye?

September 16 (cfo.com) - The computer company and other tech outfits are likely to cash in on revenue-recognition changes if the new regs take on an international flavor.

What did people say about the proposed revenue recognition model?

August 20 (fasri.net) - The comment letter deadline for the IASB/FASB discussion paper on revenue recognition was June 19, 2009. The FASB/IASB staff recently presented a high-level summary of the 200+ comment letters received by the boards. This post considers the more general themes across all comment letters.

CFO Briefing: Transition to XBRL

August 6 (cica.ca) - By the end of 2011, all SEC filers, including some 451 Canadian companies listed on U.S. exchanges, will have implemented XBRL. The purpose of this briefing is to offer clarity on XBRL by introducing basic concepts, exploring the benefits and downfalls of implementation, indicating the status of XBRL reporting in Canada, and offering tips for preparation.

The SaaS Business Model and Some Common Legal Questions

August 6 (interwest.com) - SaaS agreements are typically subscription services agreements that address key customer concerns with service levels, security, privacy, and ultimately performance. More detailed SaaS-specific issues include: how mid-term add-on user subscriptions are handled; the details of the renewal process; whether support is bundled in or extra; what usage rules apply to your users; and how third party services are made available through your service. There are many ways to address these issues depending on your particular business, but one thing is clear – SaaS providers need to ensure their hosting and other services vendors are providing “back-to-back” terms for the terms being offered to customers.

IFRS: What’s Next?

August 6 (ifrsusa.wordpress.com) - IFRS is coming. The issue is when will it be required, not if it will be required. How shall we prepare for IFRS’ eventual arrival while we wait for the SEC to make its move? Consider these ideas as you begin to prepare.

Tweedie Warns of 2011 Deadline for IFRS Choice

August 6 (webcpa.com) - International Accounting Standards Board chairman Sir David Tweedie said that other countries are running out of patience waiting for the Securities and Exchange Commission to decide on whether to approve a roadmap for transitioning to International Financial Reporting Standards and that the U.S. would need to commit by 2011.

FASB and XBRL US Align XBRL US GAAP Tags to New Accounting Codification

August 6 (prnewswire.com) - The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and XBRL US, the nonprofit consortium for XML business reporting standards, announced today that they have completed the work to revise the XBRL US GAAP Taxonomy to reflect the FASB Accounting Standards Codification(TM) that was released on July 1, 2009. The Codification is the single source of authoritative nongovernmental US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and is effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009.

Action needed on IFRS

July 29, 2009 (gaapweb.com) - Robert Bunting, president of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), explained that International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Standards on Auditing (ISA) are now seen as vital to the public interest.

Revenue Recognition: Will a Single Model Fly?

July 29, 2009 (cfo.com) - Can U.S. and international accounting standard-setters realize their dream of fashioning a single revenue-recognition standard that would apply to all customer contracts? While the answer won't be known for some time, it's safe to say there are hurdles on the road ahead.

Congressional Bill Supports Federal Takeover of Financial Reporting

July 29, 2009 (fincriadvisor.com) - Should FASB's decisions be subject to government oversight? A bipartisan effort is underway in Congress to make that a reality, a position supported by former FDIC chair Bill Isaac, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Paul Volcker, the chairman of President Obama's Economic Advisory Board.

Microsoft Discloses Windows 7 Price, Upgrade; Defers Rev

July 14, 2009 (marshallweinberg.com) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said it would slash prices on the main consumer version of Windows 7, the new version of its operating system, and will defer up to $300 million of revenue this quarter due to a program designed to help consumers upgrade.

Private Companies Get IFRS Made Easy

July 13, 2009 (cfo.com) - Private U.S. companies have a new option in accounting standards following Wednesday's release of a simplified, vastly slimmed-down version of International Financial Reporting Standards. Private firms in the United States could already choose IFRS. Yet relatively few have done so, even though the full version of IFRS, at about 2,500 pages, is roughly a tenth the size of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. It remains to be seen how many companies will find it harder to resist the new "IFRS for SMEs," which weighs in at just 230 pages.

SaaS Revenue from the Vendor's Point of View

July 6, 2009 (seekingalpha.com) - SaaS vendors are only able to recognize their subscription revenues on a month-to-month basis, decimating their traditional software revenue recognition models. This harsh reality is what has kept the CXOs of the legacy, on-premise ISVs up at night hoping that the SaaS and cloud computing movement would disappear or be derailed by a major outage that would send customers fleeing back to the comfort of their on-premises software and systems safely hidden behind the firewall. Of course, the opposite has been true and SaaS/cloud computing market growth is accelerating as a result.

IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities

July 1, 2009 (blog.ifrs.com) - Based on full IFRS, the new standard will be a simplified, self-contained set of accounting principles designed for use by private entities. With the AICPA’s recognition of the IASB as an accounting standards setter in 2008, the door is open for U.S. private companies to adopt IFRS, and with the release of the new standard, IFRS for SMEs.

PCFRC Works on Revenue Recognition

June 30, 2009 (webcpa.com) - The Private Company Financial Reporting Committee met to discuss topics ranging from revenue recognition to FIN 48-d and loan-loss contingencies. The committee spent a great deal of time during the meeting discussing FASB’s revenue recognition project and its consultations with other groups. Committee members had talked with the Construction Financial Management Association to make sure they understood what the association’s issues were before sending out a comment letter. O’Dell noted that the PCFRC does extensive outreach to other organizations such as the CFMA and Financial Executives International to act as a funneling point for leaders of private companies from different constituencies.

Can you see the join?

June 30, 2009 (pwc.com) - Few subjects stimulate as much debate in accounting as fair value measurement. It has been blamed for many things over the past few years, including contributing to the credit crisis. The IASB and the FASB have committed to a joint response, and they have both issued discussion documents over the past few months. However, despite the focus on convergence and the Standard Setters working together to achieve one set of Global Standards, it’s clear these documents are not wholly consistent with each other.

PCAOB Delays Foreign Firm Inspections

June 26, 2009 (cfo.com) - The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to delay inspections of foreign accounting firms for up to three years after hearing an outcry over the legality of the inspections from regulators and firms overseas.

Are Canadian companies ready for IFRS?

June 25, 2009 (cfo.com) - With the January 1, 2011 deadline for Canadian companies' transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) looming on the horizon a new survey by the Canadian Financial Executives Research Foundation (CFERF), the research institute of FEI Canada, and sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) indicates that many companies will have a race to the finish line.

PCAOB Rips E&Y on Revenue Recognition

June 17, 2009 (cfo.com) - Ernst & Young failed to note when two clients strayed from revenue-recognition rules, according to the latest inspection report on the Big Four firm by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Consequently, the regulator's sixth annual inspection of E&Y resulted in those clients having to restate their previously issued financial statements to make up for the departure from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Survey shows SMEs want simplified international accounting standards

June 17, 2009 (smartcompany.com) - An overwhelming number of small businesses support the introduction of special international financial reporting standards for SMEs that could help cut complexity and cost involved in preparing financial reports. The survey of SME company directors, auditors, accounting firms and professional bodies by accounting firm Grant Thornton found 83% of respondents support the adoption of IFRS for small companies.

Will the New FASB Code Change Accounting?

June 17, 2009 (cfo.com) - Get ready to say good-bye to the alphabet soup that currently comprises Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. As of July 1, standards now known as FAS, FSP, EITF, or APB, among others, will be subsumed into a new and less letter-centric organizational system as part of the Financial Accounting Standards Board's codification project.

IASB Could Lose European Standard Setting Role

June 15, 2009 (profalbrecht.wordpress.com) - The EU wants the IASB to be independent of everyone but Europe. The EU wants the IASB to be subservient to Europe’s wishes. European politicians just have to be getting tired of lobbying in the financial press for certain provisions in IFRS. It would be much easier if Europe had a standard setting body that answered directly to Charlie McGreevy, Finance Minister. The result would be more acceptable standards and less debate in the public spotlight.

Japan takes major step towards IFRS adoption

June 15, 2009 (iasb.org) - the Business Accounting Council (BAC), a key advisory body to the Commissioner of the Financial Services Agency (FSA), approved a roadmap for the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in Japan.

Mark Olson resigns as PCAOB chairman

June 11, 2009 (accountingweb.com) - Mark W. Olson, chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has resigned effective July 31, one year before his second term was due to end. Olson was appointed to his position in 2006 by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox. Olson's replacement will be named by Mary Schapiro, current head of the SEC.

Seven key differences in IFRS

June 10, 2009 (camagazine.com) - Canada’s publicly accountable enterprises (PAEs)have to give up Canadian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and switch to international financial reporting standards (IFRS) for annual periods starting on or after January 1, 2011.1 Despite the fact that few PAEs have started moving on this — as some surveys have shown — such enterprises should have completed their transition planning and assessed the anticipated effect of the change on their financial reporting by the end of this year. In fact, the Canadian Securities Administrators want to see those plans discussed in management’s discussion and analysis covering fiscal year 2008.

Study Predicts Little Benefit to Adopting IFRS in U.S.

June 9, 2009 (webcpa.com) - A new academic study takes issue with claims that U.S. companies would benefit from adopting International Financial Reporting Standards. The study finds that the high-quality accounting infrastructure already in place for U.S. GAAP would likely see little upside from a transition to IFRS, as envisioned by the SEC’s proposed roadmap, which the new SEC commissioner has not yet approved.

SEC’s Aguilar on 404, IFRS Proxy Access, More

June 4, 2009 (accountancyage.com) - Smaller companies should prepare to become “more familiar” with the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, an SEC commissioner told a group of compliance officers gathered in Washington D.C.

FRC chief warns of EU 'breakaway'

June 4, 2009 (accountancyage.com) - The UK’s top accountancy regulator has said that there are moves underway in the European Union looking to establish a breakaway version of international accounting standards, a move that could undermine efforts to converge IFRS with US GAAP. Paul Boyle, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council, who is stepping down in November, warned that such a move would also have serious repercussions in the US, as foreign issuers would have to iron out the differences between IFRS-compliant accounts and US GAAP.

SEC Chief Strives To Rebuild Regulator

June 4, 2009 (washingtonpost.com) - Schapiro's efforts to reform the agency are still getting off the ground and have yet to gain the prominence of actions taken by the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve to stabilize the financial system. But by taking so many actions so quickly, Schapiro is trying to send the message that the SEC is an aggressive and relevant regulator.

FASB Accounting Standards Codification

June 1, 2009 (aicpa.org) - On July 1, 2009, FASB is expected to issue FASB Accounting Standards Codification™ (ASC) as authoritative. At this time, it will become the source of authoritative U.S. accounting and reporting standards for nongovernmental entities, in addition to guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Supreme Court to Hear Major Case Challenging Sarbanes-Oxley Accounting Board

June 1, 2009 (cei.org) - The Supreme Court today announced it would hear a case brought by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Free Enterprise Fund challenging the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).