Thursday, December 13, 2007

FEI Members on Panels; FEI Committee on Corporate Reporting Comments on Concept Release

Four members of Financial Executives International (FEI), an association of senior financial executives, are among panelists appearing on the SEC’s IFRS roundtables. FEI members participating on today’s panel are Gregg L. Nelson, VP, Accounting Policy and Financial Reporting at IBM Corporation and Matthew Hilzinger, SVP and Corporate Controller, Exelon Corporation. The December 17 panel includes FEI members Mick Homan, Comptroller, Corporate Accounting, Procter & Gamble Corporation, and Margaret (Peggy) Smyth, VP and Controller, United Technologies Corporation.

Homan, Nelson and Smyth are members of FEI’s Committee on Corporate Reporting (CCR). CCR provided a comment letter to the SEC on November 15, in response to SEC’s Concept Release on whether to permit or require U.S. companies to file their financial statements with the SEC in IFRS.

CCR’s comment letter supported permitting U.S. companies the option of voluntary adoption of IFRS. If the SEC were to decide to make IFRS mandatory, CCR said in its November 15 letter that mandatory adoption by all companies could come ‘no sooner than 2012.’

“CCR strongly supports providing a choice in the near term to U.S. issuers to prepare financial statements in accordance with IFRS as published by the International Accounting Standards Board,” said the CCR letter, signed by CCR Chair Arnold C. Hanish, EVP and Chief Accounting Officer, Eli Lilly and Co.

However, CCR’s letter added, “It is important to acknowledge that the prospect of allowing U.S. companies to file on the basis of IFRS has very different implications for the broad array of U.S. companies that form the membership of FEI.”

FEI Members on Panels; FEI Committee on Corporate Reporting Comments on Concept Release

Labels: CCR, FEI, IFRS, sec

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

PCAOB Urged to Take a 'Clean Sheet' Approach to Standard Setting Priorities at Oct. 17 SAG Meeting

SAG members were concerned that items on PCAOB's priorities list from prior years remain uncompleted. They also asked if the PCAOB had sufficient resources to complete their projects. Some noted the PCAOB had become a follower rather than a leader, and suggested the PCAOB try to leverage off work being done by the AICPA's Auditing Standards Board (ASB) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) where those groups were ahead of the PCAOB on certain standards.

PCAOB Urged to Take a 'Clean Sheet' Approach to Standard Setting Priorities at Oct. 17 SAG Meeting

Labels: AICPA, ASB, FEI, IAASB, IFRS, pcaob, sarbanes oxley

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Saturday, May 19, 2007

FEI Blog: Trust... But Verify

Trust... But Verify (Thoughts on Paulsons Capital Markets Initiative)

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson presented his Capital Markets Action Plan yesterday (May 17) to the masses via an OpEd in the Financial Times. Further details were outlined in Treasury’s press release, and in this speech by Under Secretary Robert K. Steel. (See our summary of key points from all the above in our blog post yesterday.)

Not only was Paulson’s selected venue to present his message of interest (the U.K. based, global newspaper Financial Times) - as noted by CFO.com Editorial Director Tim Reason in CFO.com’s blog - but I find the fact that Paulson emphasized “trust” in the title of his OpEd, “The Key Test of Accurate Financial Reporting is Trust,” to be of keen interest. In fact, with the focus of Treasury’s initial steps being the audit profession, I couldn’t help but think of “Trust.. But Verify” – one of the sayings of former President Ronald Reagan, as cited in wikipedia.

FEI Blog: Trust... But Verify

Labels: CApital Markets Action Plan, FEI, Paulson

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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

FEI Survey: Management Drives Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Costs Down by 23%, But Auditor Fees Virtually Unchanged

Financial Executives International (FEI) announced today the results of its sixth Sarbanes-Oxley compliance survey, which found that Section 404 compliance cost Corporate America less in year three of adoption than in each of the first two years. FEI polled 200 companies to gauge experiences in complying with Section 404. Responding companies have average revenues of $6.8 billion.

According to the FEI survey, which included 172 "accelerated filers" -- companies with market capitalizations above $75 million -- total average cost for Section 404 compliance was $2.9 million during fiscal year 2006, which represents a 23 percent decrease from 2005 totals. The data also shows reductions in internal and external costs of compliance, with internal staff time decreasing by 10 percent. The lower costs can be attributed to companies' increased efficiencies in complying with Section 404.

FEI Survey: Management Drives Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Costs Down by 23%, But Auditor Fees Virtually Unchanged

Labels: compliance costs, FEI, survey

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