Alright so I lied, FASB isn't going to quit smoking. What they are doing, however, is laying out their goals for 2015 for all of us to see.
I’d like to share with you how we plan to “get it done” in 2015—how we’ll build upon the successes of 2014 while addressing new challenges.
Specifically, in 2015, we plan to:
- Continue to improve GAAP by reducing complexity
- Finalize our major projects with the IASB
- Continue to promote international cooperation among standard setters, and
- Make the GAAP Codification more user friendly.
I’d also point out that each of these objectives supports the overall vision, mission, and major priorities for the FASB that we have outlined in our draft Strategic Plan.
Golden says FASB is going to put a lot of muscle behind finalizing a few major projects — Accounting for Financial Instruments, Leasing, and Insurance (both long-duration contracts and short-duration contracts) — so we should expect to see those wrapped up this year.
Additionally, FASB is sort of over their relationship with the IASB. Good for them, broadening their horizons and all that:
Although the era of bilateral work with the IASB is coming to an end, the FASB remains committed to the goal of creating more comparable standards worldwide.
We will continue to work with the IASB on our major joint projects, and we will continue to contribute to the development of IFRS as a member of the IASB’s Accounting Standards Advisory Forum. Our membership allows us to share insights on standard-setting issues based on our past experience or developed through our due process, stakeholder outreach, analysis, and deliberations.
We also will continue to maintain and strengthen our existing cooperative relationships with other national standard setters. The broader flow of information and ideas resulting from these relationships mutually informs our thinking and contributes to the shared understanding of perspectives and circumstances.
Note the tone here. Convergadoption? Yeah, forget all that, it's every sovereign nation for themselves:
We believe these relationships can reduce or avoid unnecessary differences among standards used internationally—with the understanding that the interests of our respective capital markets outweigh the goal of completely converged accounting standards.
Golden ends his sweet little note with a reminder that FASB needs you to see its goals through. So get on those comment letters and tweet them inspirational memes so they can stay on track to see their resolutions through to the end of the year.
