Financial Accounting Standards Board plans to issue an “unprecedented number” of exposure drafts over the next year to move toward convergence on accounting standards with the International Accounting Standards Board, two FASB board members said in a webcast Thursday.
The “planned changes are significant and broad reaching,” according to a webcast presentation by Tom Linsmeier and Marc Siegel.
The primary goal is to improve and converge the FASB and IASB standards, Mr. Linsmeier said. The effort is not just to eliminate differences but to develop high-quality standards by identifying those that are weak and improving them, he said.
An “unprecedented number of exposure drafts and standards will be issued and finalized over the next year,” Mr. Linsmeier said. No more than four significant or complex exposure drafts will be issued in any quarter, he said.
Implementing new standards designed to further convergence “may challenge the system,” and FASB will consider spreading out effective dates rather than issuing them all at once, Mr. Linsmeier said.
Major projects in the effort targeted for completion next summer include comprehensive income reporting, which would include gains and losses of defined benefit pension plans, and fair value measurement.
FASB and IASB plan to decide in 2012 the extent of further convergence after they review the results of the latest implementation.
