Wednesday, May 18, 2011

FASB Hot Topic of Congressional Scrutiny

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Just as Republicans do not have the legislative muscle in both houses of Congress to repeal health care, they also will not be able repeal or substantially alter the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. However, they will try to influence its implementation, as reported in Accounting Policy and Practice Report.

The House Republican leadership has told all of the House committees to set out an oversight agenda for areas within their jurisdictions, and House Financial Services Committee is letting it be known it will keep a watchful eye on the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission as the Obama administration and the independent regulatory agencies spew out a plethora of new regulations needed to effect Dodd-Frank.

Under the gun could be FASB standards on fair-value accounting; “The committee will monitor and review the FASB's specific projects, including but not limited to fair value,” says a draft of the Financial Services Committee’s oversight agenda produced by the committee staff. For fair value and other issues, the committee says it wants “to ensure that any revisions provide useful information to investors without disrupting the capital markets or improperly burdening issuers and preparers."

The committee says it also will be keeping a close eye on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and on the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

For more information, check out the latest edition  of BNA's Accounting Policy & Practice Report . Not a subscriber? Sign up  for a free 15-day trial to Accounting Policy & Practice Report.

--Steven Marcy

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