Views on the integrity of global capital markets
Currently there are initiatives underway to create an overarching framework to improve financial statement disclosures. The “disclosure framework” is intended to help enable companies communicate more effectively with investors, eliminate redundancy, and move away from what some assert has become a compliance exercise. Read more
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As the economic crisis play out in Europe, an important question for investors is how sovereign debt exposure may have affected the recently reported performance of systemically important banks.
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FASB recently initiated a project to create separate private company accounting standards. Meanwhile the PCC — formed to advise FASB on private company standards — is charged with identifying areas within existing GAAP to adjust reporting requirements for private companies. Read more
7 Comments It remains challenging for investors to fully anticipate the consequences of forthcoming bank regulatory requirements, especially across interrelated strands of regulation. A case in point is a Basel III requirement eliminating filters relating to financial reporting information. Read more
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The underperformance of major global banking stocks since 2007 is, in part, indicative of the belated recognition by investors that banks had for too long been too highly leveraged. Adequate loss-absorbing equity capital is necessary to ensure the solvency and financial stability of banking institutions. Read more
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With the corporate earnings season heading into the home stretch, it’s an ideal opportunity to examine whether users of financial statements — investors and securities regulators — have learnt lessons from the recent misreporting by corporations and are now effectively judging the earnings quality of reporting companies. Read more
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After my first meeting as a member of the International Financial Reporting Standards Interpretations Committee (IFRS IC) in July, it was apparent to me that the activities and decisions of the IFRS IC are more relevant to investors than they might anticipate. Read more
Leave a Comment On 12 February, the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) Private Company Council (PCC) voted to add three projects to its formal agenda to consider how accounting in three topical areas should be differentiated for private companies. Read more
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Recently the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which sets the U.K. standards for accounting and auditing, announced that it would open an investigation into Hewlett-Packard’s $8.8 billion write-down of its acquisition of Autonomy. Read more
Leave a Comment Last week, Hans Hoogervorst, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), made the case for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow the optional use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by U.S. publicly listed companies. Read more
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