The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Center for Audit Quality issued a summary Wednesday of observations from two forums on disclosure effectiveness.
Held at Columbia University’s Center for Excellence in Accounting and Security Analysis in New York Oct. 4 and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in Stanford, Calif., Oct. 8, the forums were planned to facilitate discussion between a wide range of financial reporting stakeholders on improving the effectiveness of disclosures in notes to financial statements and other parts of the financial reporting package.
The dialogue focused on parts of the FASB’s recent Invitation to Comment on a disclosure framework and other financial reporting issues. Participants included financial statement preparers and users, corporate board and audit committee members, auditors, attorneys, regulators, standard setters and academics.
Other topics addressed during the two forums were:
• Flexibility of disclosure requirements • Role of the notes
• Disclosure relevance to investors and creditors
• Effect on the assessment of future cash flows to the investor
• Streamlined disclosure in the current environment
• Prescriptive nature of current accounting guidance
• Overlap of notes and Management’s Discussion and Analysis
• Costs, benefits and incentives for change
A summary of the forums and the FASB’s Invitation to Comment on the disclosure framework project is available at
