FASB Pensions

In 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was created and their mission is “to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information.” (FASB.org, 2009a). The FASB is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) within the United States. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) designated the FASB as the organization responsible for setting accounting standards for public companies in the U.S. Therefore, the FASB plays a vital and important role in protecting the financial well being and the overall stability of our

In 1973 the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was established to set the financial accounting standards in the United States of America for nongovernmental entities. These standards are collectively called U.S. Generally accepted Accounting Principles, or U.S. GAAP. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants acknowledge the authority of these standards (FASB, n.d). A “proven, independent due process” is used to collect the viewpoints of the financial statements prepares and users for the constant improvement of these standards. An Accounting Status Update(ASU) is not an authoritative source however documents the amendments to communicate the changes in the FASB Codification for a user to understand the reason and future of those changes (FASB, n.d).

Since 2002, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) have been working toward “convergence” of US General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). They have made significant progress in efforts to converge critical accounting standards such as those dealing with revenue recognition, financial instruments and leases. Once these projects are complete, the "era" of convergence will be at an end. Nevertheless, the benefits for investors of eventually getting to consistently applied, high-quality, globally accepted accounting

A principle that guides and standardizes accounting principles. Accounting standards are necessary so that financial statements are meaningful across the world with wide variety of business, otherwise the accounting rules of different companies would make comparative analysis almost impossible. An accounting standard is a guideline for financial accounting, such as how a firm prepares and presents its business income and expense, assets and liabilities.

GAASB is proposing some major improvements to the reporting of pension plans. (GASB Proposes Major Improvements for Pension Reporting, 2011). Immediate recognition of more components of pension expense will be required, including the effect on the pension liability of changes in benefit terms, rather than deferred and amortization over as many as 30 years. Use of a discount rate will be required that applies the expected long term rate of return on pension plan investments where pension assets are expected to be available to make projected benefit payments and the interest rate on a tax exempt 30 year AA or higher rated municipal bond index to projected benefit payments where plan assets are not expected to be available for long term investment in a qualified trust. A single actuarial cost allocation method, the entry age normal, will be required. Governments participating in cost sharing multiple employer plans will be required to record a liability equal to their proportionate share of any net pension liability for the cost sharing plan as a whole. Governments in all types of covered pension plans will be required to present more extensive note disclosures and required supplementary information.

The purpose of creating FASB is to establish standards of financial accounting that control the establishment of financial reports by nongovernmental organizations. This instance is identified as the number one authority by the SEC and the American Institute of Certified Public.FASB Accounting Standards Codification serves as a reference guide of authoritative standards for accounting and reporting, to be applied by nongovernmental organizations. Some examples are; ASC 830-230-55-1 that can identify as Statement of Cash Flows for Manufacturing Organization with Foreign Operations, ASC 926-330-35-1 can be justified as Products Held for Sale, ASC 954-440-25-2 identified as Continuing Care Retirement Community, ASC 505-20-50–1 means Equity, Stock Dividends and Stock Split and Disclosure, ASC 710-10-05-6 describe as Employees Compensations..

The field of accounting is constantly evolving. This is true not only for the theory of accounting itself but also the entities that govern its theory and practice. Presently, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are faced with some of the biggest challenges to date. To understand the significance of these two boards, it is necessary to understand their histories, relations between the boards, and the standards that they set. Also how the knowledge of these boards and the field they lead, gained through the masters of science in accountancy

All businesses has a obligated task to prepare financial statements that shows the performance of the business at the end of a accounting period. Accounting standards regulation is important because it helps to ensure that companies are transparent in preparation of financial statements which reflects the true results of the company’s outcome. If there are no regulations for preparing financial statements, anyone can prepare and present the financial statements to the public without considering credibility.

The documents that comprise GAAP vary in format, completeness, and structure. As a result, financial statement preparers sometimes are not sure whether they have the right GAAP; determining what is authoritative and what is not becomes difficult. In response to these concerns, the FASB developed the Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification. The FASB’s primary goal in developing the Codification is to provide in one place all the authoritative literature related to a particular topic. Professional accountants pay for access to the FASB. The OU Accounting Department has paid for academic access to the FASB Codification. Our Login information is:

Research: The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was founded in 1973 as a private and independent organization governed by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). The organization’s primary purpose is to establish the rules and standards of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for the interest of the public. (“Facts about FASB”) “Since its inception in 1973, the FASB has issued 168 Statements of Financial Accounting Standards and a series of concepts statements”. (Facts about FASB, n.d.) The FASB's mission is "to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public,

Currently, in a private sector, the income for employees tends to be much higher than the income for employees in a public sector. It is understandable why more public sector employees are offered lifetime pensions than private sector employees, because providing a higher percent of lifetime pension to public sector employees, allows public sector employees some long term financial security. Public sector employees typically earn less and need their income to live on, so if these employees do not have pension than they may not have enough income to save or invest on their own. Whereas, public sector employees typically have a high enough income to make investments of their own and they do not need that security. However, Private Sectors are facing problems with their growing rate of unfunded liabilities. For example, General Motors used aggressive accounting practices of misreporting their sales and contributions to pensions. When the pension promised needed to be paid, the company passed that burden to their

As the complexity of our financial economy develops it is important that our accounting standards progress in accordance. Accounting is very important to the development of the global and local economies. Accounting is basically the gathering, summarizing and presenting of financial information of an entity to interested internal, external and possible investors. This information should be presented in a non-bias way so that other people are able understand.

FASB updates standards regularly to adapt to changes in the different industries. Landry’s management does not see any material impact from changes in the accounting standards. Two recent pronouncements to consider are FIN 46 and SFAS No. 144. FIN46, “Consolidations of Variable Interest Entities” discusses the financial reporting of

Today, the governing standard regarding the accounting for pensions in the United States is SFAS 87, “Employers’ Accounting for Pensions” that superseded SFAS 36 and its intended interpretations and amendments, which is found in section 715-20 of the Codification (Compensation – Retirement Benefits – Defined Benefit Plans) in US GAAP, and a corresponding standard is found in IAS 19 of IFRS. (Churyk et al 103).

Regulation is defined as a set of rules that is designed to control and govern conduct by authority (Deegan 2009, p.59). On the basis of this definition, Deegan (2009, p.59) has defined regulations relating to financial accounting as rules that are developed by independent authoritative body to govern the preparation of financial statements which are accounting standards. Since decades ago, there have been arguments for and against the existence of accounting regulations. With a stance of pro-regulation, this essay is going to examine the reasons that financial accounting and reporting should be regulated and the merits of accounting regulations.