The PCC was active this month. They met on March 3 to discuss the FASB’s agenda consultation. They also received updates from the FASB on current activities. They are currently seeking new members. Interested individuals with expertise in private company reporting should learn more and apply here. The PCC also issued their 2025 Annual Report which addresses the key activities of the group during the year. In addition, the FASB announced 4 new members to its Investor Advisory Committee. In addition to the PCC, the FASB met with Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC) on March 10, Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) on March 12 and the Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee (NAC) on March 19. The Board also met on March 18 and 25 with a focus on the agenda prioritization project and accounting for debt exchanges.
At its March meeting, the GASB approved an exposure draft on infrastructure assets and advanced discussions on the going concern/severe financial stress project and GAAP structure. The Board continued deliberations on its Revenue and Expense Recognition project, focusing on measurement topics including contingent (variable) consideration and probability thresholds, with additional refinements expected in future meetings. The GASAC also discussed emerging areas, including digital assets, artificial intelligence, environmental credits, and financial reporting complexities, that may shape the Board’s future agenda.
After meeting last month to discuss the attestation standards, the ASB issued a proposed SSAE on March 25 titled Amendments to SSAE Nos. 18 – 19 and 21 to Reflect Proposed SSAE Common Concepts, Examination Engagements, Review Engagements, and Engagements to Report on Sustainability Information which complements the Exposure Draft, Proposed Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements Common Concepts, Examination Engagements, Review Engagements, and Engagements to Report on Sustainability Information. The goal of these updates is to address examination and review engagements to report on sustainability information by incorporating new subject-matter requirements directly into the standards, rather than having them covered in an A&A Guide issued by the AICPA. Comments are due for both on June 30. The ARSC is not scheduled to meet until May of this year.
This month, PEEC issued an exposure draft proposing revisions to the definition of “attest engagement team” in the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. The proposal is intended to align the Code’s use of “attest engagement team” with other AICPA professional standards. The exposure draft explicitly identifies certain roles that are excluded, such as internal auditors, auditor’s external specialist, and referred-to auditors, which is consistent with AICPA auditing and attestation standards. The revised definition is intended to reduce diversity in practice in how firms identify individuals who are part of the attest engagement team and subject to the “Independence Rule” and related interpretations. PEEC has indicated that the revisions are intended to clarify (and not change) the definition’s underlying application. The comment deadline for the new exposure draft is June 1.
