SEC to consider reporting changes
By Ian Katz, Bloomberg News
Denver Post
Monday, August 4, 2008

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will begin considering some of the 25 proposals from an advisory group seeking to make financial reporting less complex, Chairman Christopher Cox said.

The Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting, in proposals delivered to the SEC, suggested that public companies be required to restate financial results less frequently.

A "material error that is not important to a current investment decision" shouldn't require a restatement, the committee said.

The committee also urged the Financial Accounting Standards Board to take a "judicious approach to further expansions of fair value" accounting, a process used by companies to put a price on difficult-to-value assets. Companies should instead be required to file a "reconciliation" that would include changes in the fair value.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_10087504