Latest Developments in Accounting

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN ACCOUNTING
Accounting can be trace back some 7000 years to early civilizations of Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome. The first accounting record was found in Babylon, 3500 B.C. the records are made from stone, mud and leaves and introduction of the Arab-Hindu numerical system in 850 B.C had greatly enhanced accounting development.
The pace of accounting development increased during the Industrial Revolution as the economics of developed countries began to mass-produce goods. Until that time, merchandise was priced based on managers’ hunches about cost but increased competition required merchants to adopt more sophisticated accounting system.

1) Sustainability accounting (also known as social accounting, social and environmental accounting, ) was originated about 20 years ago and is considered a subcategory of financial accounting that focus on the disclosure of non-financial information about a firm's performance to external parties such as capital holders, mainly to stakeholders, creditors and other authorities. THE DEVELOPMENTS IN SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING ARE AS FOLLOWS:
The convergence of global capital markets and the emergence of global and regional quality control issues – culminating for the accounting profession in the Asian financial crisis in 1997/1998 as well the Enron Collapse in 2001 – led to a subsequent high-level focus on international and national accounting. The accounting literature has demonstrated a considerable increase in concern for the issues of sustainable development and accounting. Via the exploration of what sustainability accounting may entail, the accounting profession is likely to be involved in re-examining accounting fundamentals in the light of the challenge of sustainable development. Several proposals and significant statistical work as well as a growing body of measurement on accounting for sustainable development is being carried out in many international and national settings. Even supra-national policy bodies like the United Nations and the OECD have sponsored work addressing accounting for sustainability. Up till now environmental accounting is the most evolved form of sustainability accounting and increasingly processed in the academic circle beginning with the work of Robert Hugh Gray in the early 1990s, and through the release of the Sustainability Accounting Guidelines at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.

TRANSPORT SATELLITE ACCOUNTS
Transport satellite accounts (TrSA) promise a relatively new tool to measure and analyse the transport sector as a whole. Satellite accounts provide an accounting framework linked to the national accounts and which enable attention to be focused on a certain field or aspect of economic and social life. Common examples are satellite accounts for the environment and tourism.
The system of national accounts provides a comprehensive framework in which to present statistical data on economic transactions between establishments. The SNA consists of a “coherent, consistent and integrated set of macroeconomic accounts, balance sheets and tables based on a set of internationally agreed concepts, definitions, classifications and accounting rules” (SNA, 1993). They structure the costs of production and income generated in the production process, the flow of goods and services produced within the national economy, and the flow of goods and services with the rest of the world in a comprehensive way, and also provide the basic information for the derivation of detailed input-output tables that are extensively used for purposes of economic analysis and projection.
Recently, a number of countries have started looking at the feasibility of transport satellite accounts to answer some of the key transport policy questions. TrSA have a potential to answer questions such as impact of transport policies (vehicle charges, fuel excide, congestion charges) on industries, regions, different users and consumers. They can also address issues on productivity, energy consumption, and employment, among others. or final uses, including exports.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN FASB
FASB Issues Private Company Council Proposal on Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities
The FASB issued for public comment a proposal outlining an alternative within U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for applying consolidation guidance to leasing companies under common control.

FASB and IASB to Form Joint Transition Resource Group for Revenue Recognition The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the FASB formally announced plans to create a joint transition resource group focused on the upcoming final converged standard on revenue recognition. The transition group will be responsible for informing the IASB and the FASB about interpretive issues that could arise when companies, institutions, and other organizations implement the revenue recognition standard.

PCC Proposes Changes to Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities
On July 16, the Private Company Council (PCC) voted to expose a proposed alternative within U.S. GAAP for applying consolidation guidance for leasing entities under common control. The PCC and the FASB also voted to finalize the Private Company Decision-Making Framework.

FASB issues U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy Implementation Guide and two proposed guides
FASB - 7/11/2013 The FASB issued a final U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy (UGT) Implementation Guide and two proposed UGT Implementation Guides. The UGT Implementation Guide, Insurance Industry: Concentration of Credit Risk, is a final guide that provides examples of how the UGT may be used to model disclosures of reinsurance-related concentrations of credit risk.
FASB Issues Standard Deferring Some Disclosures for Nonpublic Employee Benefit Plans
FASB - 7/8/2013 The FASB published a new Accounting Standards Update that defers indefinitely certain disclosures about investments held by nonpublic employee benefit plans in their plan sponsors' own nonpublic equity securities.

FASB Issues Three Private Company Council Proposals
FASB - 7/1/2013 The FASB issued for public comment three proposals that address private company stakeholder concerns raised about the relevance and complexity of three aspects of U.S. GAAP. The proposals involve accounting for intangible assets acquired in business combinations, goodwill, and certain types of interest rate swaps.

FASB Proposes Improvements to Accounting for Insurance Contracts
FASB - 6/27/2013 The FASB issued for public comment a proposal to improve financial reporting of insurance contracts, including measurement of insurance liabilities and the related effect on the statement of comprehensive income.

FASB Proposes Improvements to Financial Reporting of Going Concern Uncertainties
FASB - 6/26/2013 The FASB issued a proposal intended to improve disclosures of uncertainties related to an organization's ability to continue as a going concern. Currently, there is no guidance in U.S. GAAP about management’s responsibilities in evaluating or disclosing going concern uncertainties, or when or how uncertainties should be disclosed in an organization's footnotes.

FASB Endorses Three Private Company Council Proposals
FASB - 6/10/2013 On June 10, 2013, the FASB voted to endorse three alternatives within U.S. GAAP proposed by the Private Company Council (PCC) to address concerns raised about the relevance and complexity of certain aspects of GAAP for private company stakeholders. The proposals involve accounting for intangible assets acquired in business combinations, goodwill, and certain types of interest rate swaps.