Ready, set, codification: effective July 1, 2009, the FASB Accounting Standards Codification[TM] became the single source of authoritative nongovernmental U.S. GAAP.

PositionIssue UPDATE

The Codification doesn't change GAAP. However, it does reorganize GAAP into roughly 90 topics to transform GAAP into an easily accessible, user-friendly online research system. The Codification is designed to reduce the amount of time practitioners spend researching issues, improve compliance to the standards, and provide real-time updates.

From a research standpoint, "we are no doubt going to a better place" stressed Bruce G. Pounder, president of Leveraged Logic and a highly rated OSCPA discussion leader. "Getting to that point, however, is going to be more difficult than FASB ever anticipated."

ARE YOU READY?

That is the real question surrounding the Codification. In a poll from Grant Thornton released last spring, only 46% of CFOs were even aware of the Codification. The survey also found that only 19% actually believe that the Codification project will make accounting standards easier to use.

"The lack of awareness is a real phenomenon," Pounder said. "The lack of preparation is equally profound and it's a real concern."

This lack of preparation could be significant for the profession. In his webinar series, Pounder focuses on the CPAs ability to identify and cite authoritative GAAP. Pounder has emphasized that the skill sets many have in "citing GAAP became obsolete on July 1, 2009."

"The organization is based on a topical organization with numeric identifiers that are completely brand new," Pounder said. "Everything completely changed on July 1." Pounder notes that many "will be unable to do their job."

"The big can of worms is the implication of the Codification on internal controls over financial reporting," Pounder said. "The Codification has the potential to introduce many new weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting."

CODIFICATION VIEWS

FASB provides two different views to access the Codification: basic and professional. The basic view is offered at no charge. The annual subscription for the professional view is $850 for a single concurrent use, with quantity discounts for multiple concurrent uses. FASB also expects to provide a four-volume bound edition of the FASB Codification by the end of August.

BASIC VIEW

* Topically organized access to all authoritative nongovernmental U.S. GAAP, including relevant SEC content

* Utility to identify the location of original standards

* Basic print functionality

PROFESSIONAL VIEW

* All the features included in the basic view

* State-of-the-art text searching

* Go To feature...

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