Accounting FASB Report, Describe the history, current status, and adoption implications of a Financial Accounting Standards Board ongoing project.

FASB Report:  ACCT 310

“The mission of the Financial Accounting Standards Board is to establish and improve standards of financial accounting reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information.” (http://www.fasb.org)

Project Objective

Describe the history, current status, and adoption implications of a Financial Accounting Standards Board ongoing project.

Requirements

The FASB has several ongoing projects that involve the review of standards and which may result in updates and/or revisions of financial accounting standards. You should select an ongoing FASB project after visiting the Technical Plan and Project Updates sections of the FASB Web site.  www.fasb.org

In a five – to seven-page report, with section headings, you should describe the project, its history (briefly), and the project’s status. The final section of your report should describe the implications of the project’s adoption. For example, a report might discuss a project that would result in accelerating the recognition of certain expenses and require additional disclosures.  Submit research tracker to date in the assignment folder week 4, and again with the final report. The final report will include an annotated bibliography.

Specifically:

• Familiarize yourself with the project, including information on the history and background of the project and its status.
• Using resources at www.fasb.org (including free access to U.S. GAAP codification if you register at the Web site as explained), identify the relevant GAAP and current standards involved. Discuss the proposed change (i.e., what will be different?) and the reasons for the change.
• Consider SEC 10-K comments in place on changes to accounting regulations. How will this affect reporting requirements? Provide examples in context.
• Using at least three different databases in the UMUC library, find at least five sources of information on this FASB project. As you conduct research, identify an actual case that may have provided the impetus for this proposed change, or that would have been influenced by the proposed change. At least two sources should be from scholarly or professional journals. Document your research progress in the research log. A research log template (sample research tracker) and sample research trackers are included in these project instructions. You should explore UMUC Library resources and our LEO Classroom Accounting Toolbox as well as the resources of major accounting firms and organizations.
• Frequently the large Accounting Firms have extensive analyses of FASB topics. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with these websites.  Occasionally they will also offer free webinars on FASB topics.
• Prepare an annotated bibliography. UMUC provides training on this topic: http://sites.umuc.edu/library/libhow/bibliography_tutorial.cfm
• Identify stakeholders and the impact of the proposed change on each of the stakeholders (comment letters may provide good insight).

Deliverables

Write a five- to seven-page report (APA format, single spaced, standard paper size, one-inch margins, and 12-pointfont) presenting the results of your work. Submit your report, research log, and annotated bibliography by the due dates, or as otherwise instructed.  Cover pages, abstract/ executive summary, table of contents if you chose to include or bibliography / reference lists do not count toward page count.

Your topic and research plan must be approved in advance by your professor in the discussion for FASB project.  The topic should not be a repeat of your prior work and passages of quoted material will not be in included in page count.  Small charts that you create will be included in page count.

Format 

Submit report and annotated bibliography as a Word document. The research tracker, submitted in week 4, and again with final report. May be in either Word or Excel.

Grading

The written communication aspect of this assignment is weighted at 50 percent of the total assignment. The grading will consider the following areas:

• assignment management
• organization and structure
• evidence and arguments
• readability, style, and mechanics
• presentation

The annotated bibliography is graded separately from the research tracker.

 

Sample Research Tracker

The research tracker should be a columnar document. Omit the word “sample” in your actual submission. Examples are provided below.