NEWS RELEASE 12/12/11

Financial Accounting Foundation Adds Boston Public Roundtable to Outreach on Plan to Improve Private Company Standard Setting

FAF also announces locations for all four 2012 roundtables

Norwalk, CT, December 12, 2011—The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) has added a Boston location to a series of roundtables intended to solicit public comment about the FAF’s proposal to improve the accounting standard-setting process for private companies. The FAF also announced specific sites for all four roundtables, which are scheduled to take place across the country early next year.

“During our November webcast, stakeholders told us that they would like to participate in a roundtable in the Northeast,” said John J. Brennan, chairman of the FAF Board of Trustees. “To accommodate that request and ensure that we hear views from as large a cross section of stakeholders as possible, we have scheduled an additional event in Boston, where those who are interested in the FAF’s proposal on private company standard-setting can share their comments with the FAF Trustees and other FAF and FASB leaders.”

The four roundtables will focus on the FAF’s recently issued Plan to Establish the Private Company Standards Improvement Council. They are scheduled for the mornings of:

January 18, 2012—Atlanta, Georgia Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport One Hartsfield Centre Parkway Atlanta, Georgia	February 7, 2012—Stanford, California (adjacent to Palo Alto) Stanford University Schwab Residential Center 680 Serra Street Stanford, California
January 26, 2012—Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas American Airlines Training & Conference Center 4501 Highway 360 South Fort Worth, Texas	March 1, 2012—Boston, Massachusetts Harvard Business School Spangler Building Soldiers Field Boston, Massachusetts

The FAF plan is intended to focus greater attention on private company issues during the standard-setting process. Under the proposal, a new Private Company Standards Improvement Council (PCSIC) would identify, propose, deliberate, and formally vote on specific exceptions or modifications to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) for private companies. Throughout the deliberative process, the PCSIC would work closely with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which would ratify proposed changes and integrate them into U.S. GAAP. Roundtable participants will include a variety of stakeholders, including private company officers and financial statement preparers, CPA practitioners, and users of private company financial statements.

Any individual or organization representing private company stakeholders interested in participating in the roundtables should complete and submit an online application form on or before December 23. Those wishing to participate in the roundtables must submit their written comments on the FAF plan by January 6, 2012. Written comments may be sent to Private Company Plan, Financial Accounting Foundation, 401 Merritt 7, Norwalk, Connecticut 06856. Comments also may be submitted online at: PrivateCompanyPlan@f-a-f.org.

Anyone interested in observing the roundtables should preregister for specific sessions. Due to seating limitations, no more than two observers from the same organization will be able to attend. The sessions will be recorded for playback from FAF’s webcast archive.

The Plan and additional information are available at www.accountingfoundation.org.


About the Financial Accounting Foundation

The FAF is responsible for the oversight, administration, and finances of both the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and its counterpart for state and local government, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). The Foundation is also responsible for selecting the members of both Boards and their respective Advisory Councils.