Members of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the American Institute of CPAs' Accounting Standards Board and Accounting Standards Executive Committee will discuss the impact of new accounting rules at the 25th Annual AICPA National Conference on Banks and Savings Institutions Thursday and Friday, Nov. 2 and 3, at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C.

The two-day meeting will focus on current and emerging accounting, regulatory and legislative developments in the banking and savings industry.

Event speakers include FASB member G. Michael Crooch; Jackson Day, deputy chief accountant of the SEC; AICPA senior vice president John Hunnicutt; John H. Gay, first vice president, corporate strategy for Merrill Lynch; James Gerson, chairman of the AICPA ASB; and Mark Sever, chairman of the AICPA AcSEC.

"We'll be talking about the newly effective accounting standards and the new standards that will be coming down the pipeline," said Sydney Garmong, a technical director with the AICPA and a speaker in a pre-conference workshop this morning.

Hot-button issues expected to take center stage at this year's event include FASB statements 138 and 133, which deal with accounting for derivatives, issues surrounding accounting for business combinations and the FASB proposal to eliminate the pooling method of accounting, and the standards dealing with fair value accounting.

Also on the meeting agenda are an update on the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act, a discussion on Internet banking issues, and sessions on accounting for securitizations.

FASB member G. Michael Crooch will address accounting for derivatives, accounting for securitizations, fair value accounting, and business combinations in an update on the board's agenda Thursday morning.

Commenting on the board's controversial proposal to eliminate the pooling method of accounting for mergers, which has drawn the ire of critics including large corporations, who say the rule will put a damper on business combinations, Crooch said, "We've received lots of comments (on the exposure draft), and they're all over the board. It's become clear that we have to address accounting for goodwill in purchase business combinations."

"In the information age, lots of companies have a lot of value, but not many hard assets," Crooch continued. Accounting for goodwill, which is essentially the difference between the value of the company's identifiable assets and the purchase price, has been increasingly important, Crooch added.

He noted that FASB is currently conducting field visits with companies to determine "if it's feasible to have a goodwill impairment test that people can rely on and apply."

Legislation has been submitted in the House stating that a government panel, rather than the FASB, should evaluate the decision about eliminating pooling, Crooch said.

"We're not doing anything in haste," he added.

-- By Melissa Klein

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