The Investors Technical Advisory Committee "will help the board identify urgent accounting and financial reporting issues, propose new items to be added to the board's agenda, and provide perspectives on the implementation of new standards," FASB said in a statement.

Initially, the committee will comprise of 12 individuals from the investment community who focus on accounting and financial reporting matters.

"The establishment of ITAC marks another step forward in our commitment to further ensure that the views of investors and other users are firmly embedded in our process and reflected in the standards we develop," said FASB Chairman Robert Herz. "We thank the ITAC members for their commitment to this important initiative and continue to encourage other users to participate in the standard-setting process."

FASB will hold an organizational meeting on Jan. 11 with ITAC, a portion of which will be open to public observation. FASB plans to meet with the new committee in public sessions at least twice each year. Meetings with FASB staff are expected to occur on a quarterly basis.

The establishment of the committee represents the latest in a series of steps designed to enhance participation of investors and other users of financial information in the standard-setting process. In 2003, the FASB established the User Advisory Council (UAC) which includes representatives from individual and institutional investors, equity and debt analysts, lenders, and credit rating agencies. In 2005, the FASB established the Investor Task Force, which is comprised of the nation's largest institutional asset managers. Investors and other users also are represented on the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, FASB's Emerging Issues Task Force, and on FASB's project resource groups.