According to a report by inaudit.com, representatives of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) met on February 6 and 7, 2012, in Norwalk, Connecticut.
The objective of the meeting was for Japan to see where it stood in relation to the FASB reform of global business accounting standards.
At this meeting, the FASB and the ASBJ provided progress updates on their respective convergence activities with the IASB. The main aim is the development of high-quality global accounting standards. Furthermore, the FASB and the ASBJ exchanged views on the following projects undertaken by the FASB and the IASB:
Credit impairment model for financial assets
Classification and measurement of financial instruments and insurance contracts
Hedge accounting
Revenue recognition
Leases
Investment companies
Representatives of the ASBJ and the FASB agreed that their ongoing discussions are useful in promoting mutual understanding on the significant items to be improved with the IASB that will contribute to subsequent deliberations at the FASB and the ASBJ and to the future development of high-quality accounting standards. The ASBJ and the FASB agreed that they would continue to exchange views on issues faced and potential future concerns.
Leslie F. Seidman, Chairman of the FASB, stated, “Our ongoing dialogue with the ASBJ has led to a deeper appreciation of the issues that both the U.S. and Japan face in working toward our common goal of developing high-quality, comparable accounting standards. Our discussions this week were very informative and will help us achieve that goal.”
Ikuo Nishikawa, Chairman of the ASBJ, stated, “In times of changing environments of global accounting standards, we had constructive discussions with the representatives of the FASB regarding financial instruments, revenue recognition and leases, most of which are of high interest to Japanese constituents. We believe that the discussions in this meeting contribute to the finalization of convergence projects between the FASB and the IASB and the development of high-quality global standards.”
It will be interesting to see what happens at the next joint meeting, which is planned for the second half of 2012 in Tokyo, Japan.
