1/29/08 -- Consumer Groups Request New Rule on Disclosure by Money Market Funds.
The Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Action, the AFL-CIO, the Financial Planning Association, Fund Democracy, and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors submitted a request to the Securities and Exchange Commission asking for a rule requiring money market funds to make nonpublic monthly electronic filings of their portfolios.

The groups made the request in order to enable the Commission to monitor more closely the funds' risk of loss of principal, according to the January 16, 2008, letter, Petition No. 4-554, Request for rulemaking under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to adopt a rule requiring that money market funds make nonpublic monthly electronic filings of their portfolios to enable the Commission to monitor more closely the funds' risk of loss of principal.

Citing the recent downturn in financial markets, the group takes aim at the practice of managers of money market funds purchasing assets from their funds in order to forestall loss of principal, a practice commonly known as breaking the buck.

Questioning the prudence of such a mechanism, the group thinks it's only a matter of time before something goes seriously wrong.

1/29/08 -- Real Estate Industry Group Supports International Convergence.
Officials from the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts expressed their support for the convergence of international accounting standards as it relates to the application of fair value rules for investment property, when they met with the Financial Accounting Standards Board on January 25, 2008, in Norwalk, Connecticut.

NAREIT representatives expressed enthusiasm for the adoption of International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) International Accounting Standard (IAS) No. 40, Investment Properties, which requires that the fair value of investment property be reported either on the balance sheet or in the footnotes to the financial statements. They noted, however, that working out the specifics of how fair value would be adopted provides many challenges.

1/23/08 -- IFRIC Issues Draft Interpretations D23 and D24.
The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee, the interpretative body of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), issued on January 17, 2008, Draft Interpretation D23, Distributions of Non-cash Assets to Owners, and Draft Interpretation D24, Customer Contributions.

Draft Interpretation D23 would require an entity to measure at fair value any distributions of non-cash assets when it pays dividends to the entity's owners, unless the distributions are to another entity within the same consolidated group.

If adopted, Draft Interpretation D24 would require all access providers to recognize contributed assets and revenue from providing access to goods or services over the period that access is provided. This guidance would be applied prospectively.

Comments on both proposals are due by April 25, 2008.

1/15/08 - IASB Plans to Discuss Revenue Recognition, Improvements Process, and Other Issues.
The International Accounting Standards Board recently issued a final agenda to its meeting scheduled for January 22-24, 2008, at the IASB offices in London.

• Revenue recognition;
• The annual improvements process;
• IFRIC update;
• Insurance;
• Financial instruments;
• Liabilities and equity;
• Short-term convergence: earnings per share; and
• Related party disclosures.

12/3/07 -- IASB Issues Meeting Agenda.
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) will hold its next meeting on December 11-14, 2007, in London, when it will take up:

• Liabilities and equity;
• Fair value measurement;
• Its Technical Plan;
• Agenda proposals;
• Proposed International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) amendments to International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 5, Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations;
• Revenue recognition;
• The proposed measurement requirements for International Accounting Standard (IAS) 37, Consolidated Financial Statements;
• Its annual improvements process;
• Its research project on derecognition;
• The joint conceptual framework;
• Financial instruments puttable at fair value and obligations arising on liquidation; and
• Post-employee benefits.