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Accounting Research Manager(TM)
Weekly Summary of Developments
August 31 - September 4, 2009
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Accounting Research Manager subscriber,

The Accounting Research Manager database now contains this week's weekly summary of developments. Click the link below to access and print the fully-formatted Weekly Summary:

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If you do not have immediate Internet access to the Accounting Research Manager database, below is the text of this week's Weekly Summary.

Accounting and SEC Headlines

FASB Codification -- FASB Publishes Amendments to Codification
FASB Codification -- Interpretation Published
PCAOB Standards -- PCAOB Publishes Staff Questions and Answers
Consolidation -- FASB Publishes Proposal on Accounting and Reporting for Decreases in Ownership of a Subsidiary
Fair Value Measurements -- FASB Publishes Proposal to Improve Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements
Financial Instruments -- FASB Discusses Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity and Other Matters

Auditing and Internal Controls Headlines

PCAOB Standards -- PCAOB Publishes Staff Questions and Answers

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ACCOUNTING AND SEC HEADLINES:
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FASB Codification -- FASB Publishes Amendments to Codification

The FASB has published the following amendments to the FASB Accounting Standards CodificationTM (Codification):

-FASB Accounting Standards Update 2009-03, SEC Update - Amendments to Various Topics Containing SEC Staff Accounting Bulletins;
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


-FASB Accounting Standards Update 2009-04, Accounting for Redeemable Equity Instruments - Amendment to Section 480-10-S99;
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


-FASB Accounting Standards Update 2009-05, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures (Topic 820) - Measuring Liabilities at Fair Value; and
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com


-FASB Accounting Standards Update 2009-06, Income Taxes (Topic 740) - Implementation Guidance on Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes and Disclosure Amendments for Nonpublic Entities.
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FASB Accounting Standards Update 2009-03 includes technical corrections to various Topics containing SEC Staff Accounting Bulletins to update cross-references to text in the Codification. SEC rules, regulations and interpretive materials included in the Codification are nonauthoritative and do not replace or affect guidance issued by the SEC or its staff. FASB Accounting Standards Update 2009-04 updates Section 480-10-S99, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity, to reflect the SEC staff's views regarding the application of Accounting Series Release No. 268, Presentation in Financial Statements of "Redeemable Preferred Stocks." FASB Accounting Standards Update 2009-05 includes amendments to Subtopic 820-10, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures—Overall, for the fair value measurement of liabilities and provides clarification that in circumstances in which a quoted price in an active market for the identical liability is not available, a reporting entity is required to measure fair value using one or more of the techniques provided for in this update. FASB Accounting Standards Update 2009-06 provides implementation guidance on accounting for uncertainty in income taxes, as well as eliminates certain disclosure requirements for nonpublic entities.

Amendments to the Codification are made by issuing a “FASB Accounting Standards Update” that includes an issue date expressed as the year with number sequence. New accounting guidance or amendments to existing guidance will no longer be issued in the form of a standard, such as FASB Statements, FASB Staff Positions, or EITF Abstracts.

FASB Codification -- Interpretation Published
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We have published, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles - The FASB Accounting Standards Codification, which provides interpretive guidance on FASB Statement No. 168, The FASB Accounting Standards CodificationTM and the Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Statement 168 establishes the Codification as the source of authoritative U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP).

Our interpretation includes guidance in a question and answer (Q&A) format on the accounting and financial reporting requirements of Statement 168. Among other things, our interpretation includes a discussion of:

-Authoritative vs. nonauthoritative guidance;
-Pre-codification literature that is included as authoritative guidance in the codification;
-Editorial changes made by the FASB when codifying U.S. GAAP literature; and
-SEC guidance included in the Codification.

See our Literature Update for complete details.

PCAOB Standards -- PCAOB Publishes Staff Questions and Answers
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The PCAOB has published staff questions and answers (Q&As), References to Authoritative Accounting Guidance in PCAOB Standards. These Q&As provide guidance about references to authoritative accounting guidance in PCAOB standards. The series of Q&As is a reminder that auditors should look to the Codification and the rules of the SEC for authoritative U.S. GAAP guidance for SEC registrants, even though PCAOB standards may contain descriptions of and references to U.S. GAAP. The PCAOB publishes staff Q&As to help auditors implement, and the PCAOB’s staff administer, the standards issued by the PCAOB. The statements contained in these Q&As are not rules of the PCAOB, nor have they been approved by the PCAOB.

Consolidation -- FASB Publishes Proposal on Accounting and Reporting for Decreases in Ownership of a Subsidiary
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The FASB has published for public comment a proposed Accounting Standards Update, Consolidation (Topic 810) - Accounting and Reporting for Decreases in Ownership of a Subsidiary - a Scope Clarification. This proposal would amend Subtopic 810-10 and related guidance to clarify that the scope of the decrease in ownership applies to the following:

-A subsidiary or group of assets that is a business or nonprofit activity;
-A subsidiary that is a business or nonprofit activity that is transferred to an equity method investee or joint venture; and
-An exchange of a group of assets that constitute a business or nonprofit activity for a noncontrolling interest in an entity (including an equity method investee or joint venture).

The decrease in ownership guidance does not apply if the transaction is in substance the sale of real estate.

Comments on this proposal are due September 28, 2009.

Fair Value Measurements -- FASB Publishes Proposal to Improve Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements
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The FASB has published for public comment a proposed Accounting Standards Update, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures (Topic 820) - Improving Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements. This proposal is intended to improve disclosures about fair value measurements and would affect all entities that are required to make disclosures about recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements. Under this proposal, for significant unobservable inputs (Level 3 inputs), entities would be required to provide disclosures about any significant effect(s) on fair value measurements if the reporting entity were to use reasonably possible alternative inputs. This proposal also addresses requests from users for segregating information for different classes of assets and liabilities that are determined based on their nature and risk characteristics and their placement in the fair value hierarchy (i.e., Level 1, 2, or 3).

Comments on this proposal are due October 12, 2009.

Financial Instruments -- FASB Discusses Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity and Other Matters
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As reported in its "Summary of Board Decisions" publication, the FASB met on August 27, 2009, and discussed: (a) financial instruments with characteristics of equity; and (b) conceptual framework - reporting entity. The FASB reviewed its past decisions regarding its project on financial instruments with characteristics of equity and expressed continuing support for them, but did not reach conclusions about how best to describe them. The FASB did decide that equity instruments issued by a subsidiary would retain their classification in the consolidated financial statements unless the nature of the instrument changes. The nature of an instrument may change in consolidation because of arrangements between the instrument holder and another member of the consolidated group. If the nature of the instrument changes in consolidation, classification should be reconsidered in the consolidated financial statements.

The FASB also decided to issue an exposure draft for a comment period of 120 days that is expected to be titled, Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting: Reporting Entity.

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AUDITING AND INTERNAL CONTROLS HEADLINES:
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PCAOB Standards -- PCAOB Publishes Staff Questions and Answers
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As discussed above in our Accounting and SEC Summaries, the PCAOB has published staff questions and answers (Q&As), References to Authoritative Accounting Guidance in PCAOB Standards. These Q&As provide guidance about references to authoritative accounting guidance in PCAOB standards. The series of Q&As is a reminder that auditors should look to the Codification and the rules of the SEC for authoritative U.S. GAAP guidance for SEC registrants, even though PCAOB standards may contain descriptions of and references to U.S. GAAP. The PCAOB publishes staff Q&As to help auditors implement, and the PCAOB’s staff administer, the standards issued by the PCAOB. The statements contained in these Q&As are not rules of the PCAOB, nor have they been approved by the PCAOB.

Some of the documents listed above may not be accessible under your current subscription. For information about upgrading your subscription to include additional content, click here:
For detail, please contact info@zy-cpa.com