合并财务报表【外文翻译】_精品.docVIP

Consolidated Financial Statements Michael Davis and James Alargay III The procedural aspects of consolidated financial statements have gone practically unchanged for almost 50 years, with the exception of accounting changes related to goodwill and the pooling-of-interests method. The well-accepted methodology behind consolidated entities will change dramatically when new FASB standards become effective for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2008. The resulting consolidated statements may look much the same, but the behind-the-scenes mechanics and processes will be significantly different. Some reported amounts—and their interpretation—will diverge from their traditional meanings. CPAs and financial executives should prepare themselves for major changes in preparing consolidated financial statements. What finally emerged from FASB’s red deliberation is complex, so an overview of the concepts can help professionals quickly digest the changes in the final standards. New Standards Based on Two Exposure Draft The new Statements of Financial Accounting Standards—SFAS’s 141(R),?Business Combinations,?and 160,?No controlling Interests in Consolidated Financial Statements—emerged in December 2007 from the extensive red deliberation of two FASB exposure drafts (ED) issued in June 2005. As the first major joint project between FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the business combinations project sought to demonstrate that the two standards-setting bodies can work together. Given the extent of the changes, evaluating the success of those endeavors may take time. In this case, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 3 (revised in 2007), which is the IASB’s companion statement on business combinations, reflects most of the changes in SFAS 141(R). In a nutshell, the purchase method, now to be known as the acquisition?method, has been further modified such that, in many mergers, it will no longer rely on historical co