FASB: PCC identified four areas for research

06 December 2012

At its inaugural meeting, the Private Company Council (PCC), a new body created to improve the standard-setting process for private companies, identified four areas to research for agenda consideration.

The areas involve consolidation of variable interest entities; accounting for “plain vanilla” interest rate swaps; accounting for uncertain tax positions; and recognising and measuring, at fair value, various intangible assets (other than goodwill) acquired in business combinations.

“These four areas are often top of mind for users, preparers, and auditors of private company financial statements”, said PCC Chairman Billy M Atkinson. “We are eager to review the research, and we look forward to discussing the issues in more detail at our next meeting in February. After we discuss these issues further, we’ll make a decision about which projects to add to the PCC agenda.”

During the PCC’s first meeting, FASB staff members presented to the PCC issues identified as being of concern by constituents providing written input to the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Standard-Setting for Private Companies in 2010, and by participants in private company roundtables held in 2010 and 2011. The PCC directed the FASB staff to develop agenda research memoranda on:

• Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 810, Consolidation (formerly FIN 46(R) and FAS 167), which involves financial reporting by companies involved with variable interest entities (organisations in which the investor holds a controlling interest that is not based on the majority of voting rights).
• Accounting for “plain vanilla” interest rate swaps, which are used to convert variable interest rates on loans to fixed interest rates, and vice versa, as referenced in ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging (formerly FAS 133).
• ASC Topic 740, Income Taxes (formerly FIN 48), which is intended to increase relevance and comparability in reporting information about uncertain tax positions.
• Recognising and measuring various intangible assets (other than goodwill) acquired in business combinations, including providing Level 3 fair value measurements and disclosures associated with them, as referenced in ASC Topic 805, Business Combinations and ASC Topic 350, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (formerly FAS 141(R) and FAS 142).

The following items were also addressed during the inaugural meeting:

• The official transition from the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee (PCFRC), including a report which summarises recent PCFRC activities, lessons learned, and suggestions on FASB projects that the PCC may want to monitor;
• An update on the FASB’s private company decision-making framework Invitation to Comment, including a summary of outreach and feedback;
• An update on the FASB’s project on the definition of a non-public entity, including a summary of outreach and feedback;
• A discussion on the current FASB project on going concern.

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