Abstract This article examines whether the United States Financial Accounting Standards Board is working on the right issues in accounting. The key issues in this project have been and continue to be whether a stock-based plan results in compensation cost and, if so, when and how compensation cost should be measured. In addressing those issues the Board has conducted an in-depth analysis of an extremely complex area. While analyzing the many forms of stock-related compensation, the Board has changed many of its prior tentative conclusions and may well change other conclusions as additional information is considered. In evaluating the criterion of technical feasibility of any project, one of our most important considerations is whether we can agree on manageable scope. This would be a particular challenge for the risks and uncertainties project. For example, a major concern facing financial management over the past few years, particularly with the recent wave of corporate restructurings, involves the valuation of long-lived assets when their valuation may have been impaired. In our consideration of whether to add a project on disclosure of risks and uncertainties, I believe we also must consider whether the scope of the project should include guidance on impairment of long-lived assets.
Dennis R. Beresford (Tue,) studied this question.