Recent Articles

Suspending Mark-To-Market Accounting: Two Cows

February 27, 2009 19:27

It's been a while since I blogged anything - many projects for the day job keep me away from it. Before February slides into the past however, I'd like to share with you a "Tale of Two Cows." It's a fable about suspending mark-to-market accounting... from "Clusterstock," a site I'd never heard of...

60 More Days To Read The Roadmap

February 04, 2009 18:24

The question Monday was "Will the SEC extend the comment period on the IFRS Roadmap proposal?" The answer today: yes. In this release, the SEC extends the comment period until April 20.

February: IFRS Roadmap Deadline or Not?

February 02, 2009 14:09

The SEC released its "Roadmap" proposal last November, with a deadline for responses of February 19, 2009. It's a meaty proposal: one part deals with allowing companies of a certain size to switch to IFRS reporting from GAAP reporting by the end of 2009, and one part deals with the potential...

One Foot on the Road, One Foot on the Slope

January 11, 2009 23:51

On Christmas Eve, the FASB issued another turbo-proposal on top of its controversial proposal for changing other-than-temporary impairment models for certain financial assets. This proposed FSP No. FAS 107-a, "Disclosures about Certain Financial Assets: An Amendment of FASB Statement No. 107" has a...

Most Useful Stuff Of 2008

January 07, 2009 14:27

As part of my year-end tidying-up process (which failed again), I started thinking about the things that I used in every workday that I'd come across on the internet - either 1) websites I checked every day because they gave me ideas on better ways to get things done or) applications or programs...

The 99-20 Hustle

December 28, 2008 19:46

There's still time to comment on the FASB's rapid-transit amendment of the impairment model embodied in EITF Issue No. 99-20. To put it in a nutshell: the existing rules will require companies having a decline in value for things like lower-rated securitizations, whether held by issuers as a...

SEC: International Teleconference Today

November 24, 2008 13:23

The SEC will convene a teleconference today of international securities regulators to "discuss urgent regulatory issues om the ongoing credit crisis." According to the press release, the technical committee will consider "manipulative short selling" and "under-regulated or unregulated products."...

The Roadmap Arrives

November 17, 2008 14:09

On Friday evening - the day before the G20 summit began in Washington - the SEC released the long-awaited roadmap for converting the United States financial reporting system to International Financial Reporting Standards. The document will have a 90 day comment period, which will begin ticking...

Meet Sandy!

November 14, 2008 13:11

By now, you may have noticed the cheery face on the right-hand side of the webpage. That face belongs to Sandy, your online virtual assistant. I'm not turning this blog into a tech blog (out of my realm), but I think you should meet Sandy. If you're constantly making to-do lists on sticky notes and...

The SEC Guessing Game Begins

November 10, 2008 12:52

The election is over, and the national guessing game has begun about who will be the next Treasury secretary. Of course the attention is focused on the Treasury post: nothing is more urgent than instilling confidence in the financial system at this very moment, if any other post-election promises...