SEC/FASB Conference Delivers ‘Timely, Practical’ Information

By Tom Morris

The Foundation for Accounting Education’s Annual Securities and Exchange Commission/Financial Accounting Standards Board (SEC/FASB) Conference brought together 141 CPAs, CFOs and other financial professionals interested in current issues in financial accounting and reporting.

The full-day conference, held on Jan. 8 at the Sheraton New York Hotel in New York City, featured speakers from the SEC and FASB and CPAs who specialize in financial reporting regulations. The speakers covered everything from new FASB statements on intangible assets to updates on recent enforcement matters.

“Our goal was to have a cross-section of speakers covering everything going on at the SEC and the FASB, and we succeeded,” said Helen Bachman, chair of the New York State Society of CPAs’ SEC Practice Committee.

“So much is going on in the accounting profession that keeping up to date and focusing on the best information is difficult. We had nine excellent speakers and they presented timely, practical information that’s useful to professionals at different levels,” added Bachman, of Grant Thornton LLP in New York City.

Bachman said attendees had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with standards setters, such as FASB Project Manager Kimberly Petrone, who spoke about intangible assets, and FASB Director of Research and Technical Activities Tim Lucas, who gave an overview of newly released FASB standards and Emerging Issues Task Force activity.

Keynote speaker Craig Olinger, deputy chief accountant with the SEC’s division of corporate finance, spoke about current reporting and disclosure issues affecting SEC registrants.

“I came because we have a number of SEC clients and I wanted an update,” Steven Wolpow of Nussbaum Yates & Wolpow, P.C., in Melville, N.Y., said. “The topics for this program were on target, and I definitely plan to attend next year. What I liked best was the quality of information and the insight that these speakers can share because of their specialized inside information.

“For example, Tim Lucas impressed me with his broad knowledge of the FASB’s agenda and its inner workings,” Wolpow said. “Paul Purfield of PricewaterhouseCoopers was also very good with his ‘SEC Hot Topics’ session, and that was a difficult subject because so much has been happening right now in accounting standards and regulations. He covered all the current major issues and made them interesting and accessible without ‘dumbing them down.’”