In the third quarter of 2016, the FASB released a number of proposed and final standards. In addition to issuing two final Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) — on (1) simplification of a not-for-profit entity’s (NFP’s) financial statements and (2) classification of certain cash receipts and cash payments in the statement of cash flows — the Board issued proposed ASUs that would amend its guidance on the following topics:

• Long-duration insurance contracts.
• The amortization period for callable debt securities purchased at a premium.
• Employee benefit plans.
• Hedge accounting.
• The income tax disclosure requirements.
• The consolidation guidance for NFPs.
• Technical corrections and improvements to the Board’s new revenue standard, ASU 2014-09.

In addition, the FASB published for public comment an (1) invitation to comment that requests stakeholder feedback on which financial accounting and reporting topics should be added to the FASB’s agenda and (2) exposure draft of a proposed concepts statement that would add a new chapter (Chapter 7) on presentation of financial information to the Board’s conceptual framework for financial reporting.

In other news, in recent speeches, the SEC staff has reminded registrants about best practices to follow in the periods leading up to the adoption of ASU 2014-09 (on revenue), ASU 2016-02 (on leases), and ASU 2016-13 (on credit losses). The staff’s comments, which reiterated themes it has addressed over the past year, focused on internal controls over financial reporting, auditor independence, and disclosures related to implementation activities.

On the international front, the IASB recently published amendments to its insurance contracts standard, IFRS 4. The amendments address concerns about the different effective dates of IFRS 9 and the IASB’s forthcoming insurance contracts standard, which is expected to be issued as IFRS 17 in March 2017.

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