Current financial reporting issues.

• Position: Conferences

As perhaps a sign of the times, 700 senior financial executives crammed the 21st annual Conference on Corporate Reporting Issues November 4-5 in New York City -- breaking FEI attendee records. Katherine (Kate) Asbeck, chairman of the Committee on Corporate Reporting, opened the conference, saying, "I'm sure the record attendance is directly related to the record pace of change that we, as preparers of financial statements, are facing." She indicated that with Sarbanes-Oxley, the new public company advisory oversight board and a marked move toward international accounting standards, the preparers' world is quickly changing.

The first day's keynote speaker, Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Robert Herz, discussed what the FASB is doing to fulfill its mission related to standard setting in this country. On the technical front, he said the FASB has "significantly modified our agenda and priorities in direct response to issues that have come to light in the recent financial reporting scandals including accounting for special-purpose entities (SPEs), guarantees, equity derivatives and obligations settleable in shares, energy trading contracts and the very broad area of revenue recognition." Also mentioned: fair value measurement, accounting for employee stock compensation, stock options and accounting for business combinations.

The Day 2 keynote speaker, Cynthia...