The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board agreed Wednesday to re-expose their revised proposals for a common revenue recognition standard, allowing people to offer further suggestions for changes.
Re-exposing the revised proposals will provide interested parties with an opportunity to comment on revisions the boards have undertaken since the publication of an exposure draft on revenue recognition in June 2010.
The boards shared the view that while there was no formal requirement for them to re-expose the proposals, it was appropriate to go beyond the established due process, given the importance of the revenue number to all companies and the need to take all possible steps to avoid unintended consequences.
Consequently, the boards intend to re-expose their work in the third quarter of 2011 for a comment period of 120 days.
“It is important that we get this right, first time,” said IASB Chairman Sir David Tweedie in a statement. “That is why the boards and staff have undertaken an unprecedented level of outreach to get us to this point, and why we are keen to treble-check that our conclusions are robust and can be implemented with minimal disruption.”
Tweedie will be retiring at the end of June and will be succeeded by former Dutch Finance Minister Hans Hoogervorst.
FASB Chair Leslie Seidman revealed last month the boards’ plans to re-deliberate several of the priority standards such as revenue recognition, leasing, and financial instruments before finalizing them (see
“Given the prominent role of revenue in financial statement analysis, the boards decided that it would be appropriate to re-expose the proposed standard, and afford our stakeholders the opportunity to review the changes in context,” she said in a statement Wednesday.
The standard had initially been slated to be finalized this month, but that was later pushed back to the end of the year. The newest target is 2012, according to
Further details will be available shortly from the revenue recognition project sections of the IASB and FASB Web sites.
Separately, FASB said Tuesday that it recently launched a new system that provides greater transparency for users of Extensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL, making it easier for stakeholders to to submit comments on the US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy.
The Taxonomy Online Review and Comment System allows taxonomy users to review and provide direct input on the Development Taxonomy being updated and maintained by the FASB XBRL team.
Previously, stakeholders would submit their comments on a “snapshot” of the Development Taxonomy, with comments reviewed and instituted after a 60-day comment period. The new Taxonomy Online Review and Comment System allows them to submit their comments directly, increasing convenience and ease of use. All comments are then tracked and reviewed for potential inclusion in a subsequent Taxonomy release. Since the new system is operational throughout the year, users now have the ability to see the Taxonomy as it evolves and changes in “real time.” It also offers new search and navigation functions designed to efficiently find the tags that best meet the SEC‟s filer requirements.
“The Taxonomy Online Review and Comment System provides users greater visibility into proposed Taxonomy changes and allows users to comment on the Taxonomy in real time,‟ making it more dynamic for both users and the FASB XBRL team,” said FASB chief of taxonomy development J. Louis Matherne. “We urge all XBRL users to take advantage of the features available through this system, which is designed to improve functionality and navigation of the Taxonomy.”
The Development Taxonomy is now available for
