Accounting Standard Updates
Is FASB Slowing Down?
Is it actually possible the Financial Accounting Standards Board might slow down its pace in issuing accounting standards? It seems the FASB has heard its constituents and says it is listening. One of the primary worries from the accounting industry has become its ability to absorb and apply the many complex promulgations issued by the FASB in the past several years. Russell Golden, the FASB current chairman, has noted that the board will hold a public round table in December 2016 to consider the feedback it has received. A number of major public companies, as well as the public accounting industry, have expressed reservations with the current pace of the issuance of standards and the realistic ability to implement them with a timely and quality result. In the interim, the FASB has responded by providing implementation assistance and transition resources for various issued promulgations.
Does this mean the FASB will slow down or even temporarily forego its standard setting process? Not likely. Several standards are in process, including a hedge accounting standard and a promulgation on long-duration insurance contracts. However, the Board has heard the industry anxiety and will keep it on the top of the agenda.