Final rules that will dramatically change current lease accounting rules are scheduled to be issued this summer. The new rules could have a significant impact on both the debt reported on a company's balance sheet and its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). In general, the change will affect all companies that lease assets (e.g., real estate or equipment), regardless of the type or value of such assets.

As the Financial Accounting Standards Board May 4 sought to refine its keystone model for reporting loans and other debt instruments, the amount of time to be devoted to completing the high-priority project on financial instruments figured in the board's weighing of the thorny topic of convertible debt.

As chief U.S. and international rulemakers in accounting formally conceded April 21 that they will not meet a long-stated joint June 30 timetable for key projects, the standard-setters also face looming decisions on whether they will have to “re-expose” important proposals that they changed in recent months.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board will not agree with the International Accounting Standards Board on an impairment model for financial instruments unless the model is substantially better than current FASB proposals, FASB Chairman Leslie Seidman said March 10.

NEW YORK—As federal securities regulators gear up for use of enhanced whistleblower provisions in the new financial regulatory reform law, an executive who sounded early warnings on dubious transactions from within Enron Corp. predicts that potential whistleblowers will be leery of walking down the new path.

Commenters have told the Securities and Exchange Commission that its proposed enhanced disclosures on short-term borrowings a company holds need greater clarification and guidance, a BNA sampling of the 34 comments the commission received through Jan. 18 reveals.

LONDON—A succession of auditors and preparers lined up during a Dec. 17 roundtable to tell representatives of the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board that the standard-setters are not correctly discerning the split between leases and service arrangements.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board April 14 unanimously agreed to issue for public comment a concept release on possible updates to the board's current 15-year old standard on audit confirmations, an auditing practice that...