The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the American Accounting Association (AAA), and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) have joined forces to launch a research initiative that will provide a better understanding of users’ perceptions of the financial statement audit and the auditor’s report.

Participants in a public roundtable held on Tuesday, June 27, at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut, engaged in heated debate on FASB’s plan to use a projected benefit obligation (PBO) metric for measuring pension liabilities that will appear on the balance sheet according to a revised standard, rather than the accumulated benefit obligation (ABO) that most companies prefer.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has begun reviewing its guidance on one of the most complex areas of off-balance sheet reporting, accounting for leases, Chairman Robert Herz told Forbes. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had requested that FASB review off-balance sheet arrangements, special purpose entities and related issues in a staff report issued in June 2005.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have commissioned a survey concerning the trend toward requiring or allowing more financial instruments to be measured at fair value. The FASB/IASB survey seeks to address whether current reporting standards provide enough information for investors and creditors to analyze companies that report any financial instruments at fair value.