NEWS RELEASE 10/31/01
FASB Adds Financial Performance Reporting To Its Agenda
Norwalk, CT, October 31, 2001—In an effort to provide better and more meaningful information to investors and creditors, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has added a project on financial performance reporting to its agenda. The project's objective is to improve the quality of information displayed in annual and interim financial statements so that the public is better able to evaluate a company's performance.
The project will determine the usefulness of adding certain aggregations, classifications, line items and subtotals covered in annual and interim financial statements. As part of this project, the Board will examine whether financial statements provide sufficient information to allow investors and others to calculate key financial measures, such as ratios and other metrics. Examples of items that may be required to determine key measurements include depreciation, amortization, and research and development expenses.
The FASB plans to coordinate its efforts with those of the International Accounting Standards Board, which recently adopted a similar project.
It is important to note that because the FASB does not have authority over how a company describes itself in press releases, analyst presentations and similar media, the FASB project will not address the use of pro forma earnings commonly used in corporate press releases.
About the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
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.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board
Serving the investing public through transparent information resulting from high-quality financial reporting standards developed in an independent, private-sector, open due process.