SEC Seeks Comment On Updated CIFIR Recommendations
May 20, 2008
FEI Summary
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (CIFiR or the Pozen Committee for chair Robert Pozen) posted a Notice/Request for Comment on May 14, 2008 seeking comment on the updated recommendations contained in its four subcommittee reports dated May 2. These include recommendations updated subsequent to publication of CIFiR’s February 14 Progress Report.
Here are links to the four subcommittee reports dated May 2:
Subcommittee 1: substantive complexity
Subcommitee 2: standards-setting
Subcommittee 3: audit process and compliance and,
Subcommittee 4: delivering financial information.
We previously reported one major change to CIFiR’s recommendations relates to the professional judgment framework.
Here is a summary of highlights from CIFiR’s May 2 meeting. Topics discussed included the role of non-authoritative guidance, fair value reporting, “chunking" of income, industry-specific guidance, scope exceptions, cost-benefit analysis, the role of users, the comment letter process, and comments of FASB chairman Robert Herz to CIFiR.
UPDATE: The comment period on CIFiR’s May 2nd subcommittee reports ends June 23, per the Federal Register Notice published on May 22.
Updated May 29, 2008 by Edith Orenstein, Director, Technical Policy Analysis, Financial Executives International (FEI). This summary does not reflect FEI opinion unless specifically noted above.