Archive | 2006 Reports

What Keeps The SEC Busy - 2007 The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants held its annual "Current SEC & PCAOB Developments Conference" in Washington, DC last week, featuring speakers from the SEC, the FASB and the PCAOB. Each …

Statement 157:  Making Fair Value Reporting Work  In little more than a year, financial statements will bear disclosures with strange new terminology. Investors will be grappling with the meaning of things like "Level One inputs, Level Two inputs" and …

Employee Stock Option Volatility Assumptions:  Real Or Not?  Like it or not, assumptions that are built into much of financial reporting. They're embedded in everything from accounts receivable (how much will never be collected?) to warranty expense (what will …

S&P 500 Benefit Plans:  A Road Atlas For Rates  Defined benefit pension plans and other postemployment benefit (OPEB) plans inject all sorts of odd information into the operating results of companies sponsoring them. In June, we surveyed the state …

Options Closed:  The End Of "Accelerated Vesting"  Before there was option backdating, there was option vesting accelerating. It seems so 2005 now, as investors wonder what companies will be fingered next by the SEC or the US Office of …

Overdosing On Options: Backdating Bedlam  "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." When it comes to stock options, truer words were never spoken - if indeed, options were ever issued with good intentions. Option plans have usually …

Too Much Of A Good Thing Can Be Awful:  S&P 500 Benefit Plans  Mae West said it: "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful." That depends on your point of view. The employees receiving pension and health …

A Sputtering Love Affair:  Stock Options Of The S&P 500, 2005  Corporate America's love affair with stock options has been winding down for years. In 2005, the passion dropped another few notches: for the S&P 500, option grants dropped …

FASB's Fair Value Frenzy  In January, the FASB issued an exposure draft of a standard that could radically change the way financial statements look. By allowing firms the choice of reporting certain financial assets and liabilities at their fair …

Update:  The "Accelerated Vesting" Phenomenon Continues  Statement 123(R) holds the promise of putting firms' earnings on equal footing when it comes to their stock compensation reporting practices. That promise of more logical comparisons is ruined by the multitude of …