| Tim and I were left scratching our heads late last week when we got this press release from FASB. After all, why would the board feel compelled to ''reaffirm'' its commitment to transparency, etc., nine (count 'em) months after the SEC issued its long-awaited study of off-balance-sheet financing?
Fortunately, accounting expert and former FASB advisor Jack T. Ciesielski is willing to fill in at least some of the blanks. In a voicemail he just left, Jack offers his opinion that FASB has been slow to tackle the issues cited by the SEC study. Soon after it appeared, Jack notes, FASB chairman Bob Herz announced that the board would take on pensions and leasing, two of the items in the study that the SEC recommended action on. While the board has issued pension rules, or at least the initial round, it still hasn't added leasing to its agenda. And while the FASB has all but finished its work on variable-interest gizmos, Jack notes that the more fundamental issue concerning consolidation — i.e. control — has been left up in the air, with the industry practice of 51 percent-versus-49 percent ownership still the operative rule of thumb.
But Jack confesses to being as much in the dark as we are as to the ''Why now?'' question. ''Pressure from the SEC?'' he says, echoing our original question. ''I don't know. It certainly isn't coming from the chief accountant, because there isn't any.'' (Scott Taub was appointed acting chief accountant last November, two months after chief accountant Don Nicolaisen announced he was leaving.)
In fact, Jack wonders whether that isn't a sign that other powers in Washington may be working behind the scenes to get FASB to move in the opposite direction. He says he's heard, for instance, that the new pension rules are running into opposition there. Reading the tea leaves that way suggests that the reaffirmation was Bob's way of firing back.
Stay tuned. |
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