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Bridging the GAAP: November 2023

Centri’s Bridging the GAAP newsletter highlights this month’s news, developments, and emerging issues in the accounting and financial reporting world.

FASB Standard Setter Updates

Financial Accounting Standards Board

November 1, 2023 Meeting

The Board discussed its project on scope application of profits interest awards: Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718) and directed the staff to draft an Accounting Standards Update. It also added a project to its technical agenda on Accounting for government grants received by business entities.

For more information, see the FASB’s Tentative Board Decisions.

November 8, 2023 Meeting

The Board added a project to its technical agenda to make targeted improvements to the statement of cash flows. The Board also discussed its project on Conceptual framework: measurement and directed the staff to draft a proposed Concepts Statement Chapter.

For more information, see the FASB’s Tentative Board Decisions.

November 15, 2023 Meeting

The Board discussed its project the proposed Accounting Standards Update, Interim Reporting (Topic 270): Disclosure Framework—Changes to Interim Disclosure Requirements.

For more information, see the FASB’s Tentative Board Decisions.

IFAC/IAASB Standard Setter Updates

International Federation of Accountants/International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board

New Standard for Retirement Benefit Plan Reporting

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board issued International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) 49, Retirement Benefit Plans. IPSAS 49 establishes comprehensive accounting and reporting requirements for the financial statements of retirement benefit plans, with participants comprising current and former public sector employees and other eligible members. The effective date of IPSAS 49 is January 1, 2026, with earlier application permitted.

GAO Regulatory Updates

Government Accounting Office

GAO Concludes SAB 121 is a “Rule” Under the Congressional Review Act

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121) represents a “rule” for purposes of the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Under the CRA, rules from federal agencies are subject to a 60-day period during which Congress may disapprove the rule. SAB 121 was issued in March 2022 by staff in the Division of Corporation Finance and the Office of the Chief Accountant to address the accounting for obligations to safeguard crypto assets that an entity holds for platform users. According to the GAO decision, the SEC believed that the staff guidance did not qualify as a rule under the CRA.

Following this announcement, a group of lawmakers urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration to clarify “through guidance or other action” that SAB 121 is not enforceable considering the GAO’s earlier findings.

However, until further actions are taken the guidance in SAB 121 remains applicable.

Rikki Williams

Director of Quality | CPA

Rikki is the Director of Quality at Centri Business Consulting. He has more than 16 years of public and private accounting experience. He joined Centri in November 2020 and leads the firm’s quality and concurrence review...