MEDIA ADVISORY 10/14/10

Financial Accounting Standards Board Announces Public Roundtable Meetings to Solicit Input on Proposal to Improve Lease Accounting

Norwalk, CT, October 14, 2010—The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has announced it will host public roundtable meetings in the United States to discuss its August 2010 Exposure Draft, Proposed Accounting Standards Update—Leases (Topic 840), a joint project with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The roundtables are part of a series of international roundtables planned by the FASB and the IASB, and are designed to provide interested stakeholders the opportunity to engage in a constructive dialogue about the Exposure Draft.

The schedule of U.S. roundtables is as follows:

Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Joint FASB/IASB Public Roundtable Meetings on the Joint Exposure Draft on Leases
Location: Chicago, Illinois (exact times/location to be announced)

Thursday, January 6, 2011
Joint FASB/IASB Public Roundtable Meetings on the Joint Exposure Draft on Leases
Location: FASB offices, 401 Merritt 7, Norwalk, CT 06856 (exact times to be announced)

To ensure the Board receives broad-based input, meeting participants will represent a wide variety of perspectives, including those of preparers, auditors, investors, and other users of financial statements.

Those interested in participating in one of the public roundtables should e-mail their request to director@fasb.org by November 1, 2010. Participants are asked to submit a preliminary comment letter on the Exposure Draft by December 1, 2010 to director@fasb.org (preliminary comment letters will not be made public; however, respondents are asked to please ensure that they clearly state that they are not final comment letters). Participants should submit their final comment letters by December 15, 2010 to director@fasb.org.

Those interested in observing the roundtables must pre-register for specific sessions. Since seating is limited, no more than three observers from the same organization may attend. Each roundtable session will be audiocast at www.fasb.org.

In addition to the U.S. roundtables, the FASB and the IASB plan public roundtable meetings in London (Friday, December 17) and Hong Kong (Monday, December 20). Details about these sessions will be announced shortly at www.ifrs.org.


About the Financial Accounting Standards Board

Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has been the designated organization in the private sector for establishing standards of financial accounting and reporting. Those standards govern the preparation of financial reports and are officially recognized as authoritative by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Such standards are essential to the efficient functioning of the economy because investors, creditors, auditors, and others rely on credible, transparent, and comparable financial information. For more information about the FASB, visit our website at www.fasb.org.