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 Displaying
the Funding Status of Postretirement Plans
FASB
issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS)
158, Employers’ Accounting for Defined Benefit
Pension and Other Postretirement Plans, in September
2006. SFAS 158 represents the initial phase of a comprehensive
project on employers’ accounting for postretirement
plans. FASB began the project in November 2005 in response
to requests by users of financial statements, the SEC staff,
members of FASB’s Financial Accounting Standards Advisory
Council and User Advisory Council, and representatives of
the Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corporation.
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The Alternative Minimum Tax
The AICPA recently held its biennial lobbying day in
Washington, D.C., and—as a participant—I’m
pleased to report that the AICPA Council members from New
York saw 12 members of the New York Congressional delegation.
That’s good news for New Yorkers and New York State
CPAs. It means that issues that are important to you are
being communicated to members of Congress, and that New
York interests are being well represented. It may come as
no surprise that the alternative minimum tax (AMT) was one
of the most talked-about issues at this event.
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 Auditors’
Reactions to Sarbanes-Oxley
The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), as implemented by the
SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB),
remains controversial. Indeed, some continue to argue that
the law needs to be reworked, as stated in The Wall
Street Journal (November 10, 2006), to avoid “needlessly
conservative and costly” audits that put U.S. firms
at a “competitive disadvantage.” One
particular concern is that SOX applies to all U.S-registered
companies regardless of size, so many have called for an
exemption for relatively small registered firms.
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Story |