FASB/IASB's Rev. Rec.Proposal - GUEST POST by Ron Fink, CFOZone

NOTE: While I am on vacation, I invited some guest posts from some popular bloggers. Today's guest post below is from Ron Fink, Editor, CFOZone.

While convergence of international accounting standards may be a painfully slow process, US and international standard setters took a big if largely unnoticed step forward last June with a joint proposal for a new revenue recognition standard. In fact, no such standard currently exists within US GAAP, as various pronouncements by the Financial Accounting Standard Board over the years have largely been piecemeal responses to developments at the Emerging Issues Task Force that have vexed the board to one degree or another.

Indeed, the lack of an overarching standard for the top line on publicly traded companies' P&Ls has long been considered a huge gap in GAAP, so to speak. But despite its potential significance, the new proposal has gone largely unnoticed or at least remarked upon, particularly in the mainstream press, perhaps because most if not all eyes there have been on new fair-value rules that have stirred intense opposition from within the banking industry.

That said, a new, in-depth analysis of the proposed revenue recognition standard that was recently released could lead to more public awareness, at least for a while. For further details, refer to my August 9 blog post at CFOZone.com, "Better Revenue Recognition at Long Last?"

NOTE: If you have an established blog or publication and would like to submit a guest blog post for the FEI blog, please contact me at eorenstein@financialexecutives.org to discuss.

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