The Financial Accounting Standards Board plans to host a series of public roundtable meetings to gauge feedback on its proposed accounting standards for insurance contracts.
Insurance is one of the priority projects that FASB had planned to converge with the International Accounting Standards Board, but the project has largely taken a back seat to the continuing efforts to converge the standards for revenue recognition, leasing and financial instruments. U.S. GAAP is generally perceived to have more detailed standards in place for insurance, while International Financial Reporting Standards are not fully as fleshed out for different types of insurance.
After a long delay, both the IASB and FASB issued separate proposals one week apart for insurance accounting (see
FASB said its roundtable meetings are an important part of its due process on the exposure draft. The meetings will provide an opportunity for those who have submitted a comment letter, or who still intend to submit a comment letter, to discuss the proposals with the FASB and the IASB in further detail. To ensure that the boards receive input covering a variety of perspectives, the two boards are seeking participation from preparers, auditors, investors, and others.
Information for those requesting to participate and for observers is available on the Insurance Contracts project page on FASB’s Web site.
The December 2 roundtables will be webcast live on the FASB Web site. In addition, audio recordings of both the December 2 and December 16 roundtable meetings will be made available shortly after each meeting on the FASB Web site.
The dates, times and locations of each public roundtable meeting are as follows:
Monday, Dec. 2, 2013
Location: FASB offices, 401 Merritt 7, Norwalk, Conn.
Meeting times:
Session 1: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EST
Session 1 discussion will include topics specific to the Building Block Approach
Session 2: 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST
Session 2 discussion will include topics specific to the Premium Allocation Approach
Monday, December 16, 2013
Location: Westin O’Hare Hotel, 6100 North River Road, Rosemont, Ill.
Meeting times:
Session 1: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CST
Session 1 discussion will focus on issues for nonpublic and medium-sized companies and organizations
Session 2: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. CST
Session 2 discussion will include scope considerations and topics related to the Building Block Approach and Premium Allocation Approach
Those requesting to participate in the roundtables should complete and submit an electronic participant application form on the FASB Web site by Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, FASB noted. Observer registration is required in advance; space is limited, so observer registrants will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.
For more information about the roundtables, visit
