Convergence Guidebook for Corporate Financial Reporting

Bruce Pounder, MBA, CMA, CFM, DipIFR (ACCA), is an expert on the global Convergence of financial reporting standards. He has two decades of firsthand financial reporting experience as the CFO of a privately held corporation and has served as a financial reporting consultant to many public corporations. Currently he is the President of the professional services firm Leveraged Logic and the host of the webcast series "This Week in Accounting."

• Acknowledgments. Preface.Part I. Phenomenon of Convergence.Chapter 1. Introduction to the Convergence of Financial Reporting Standards.Financial Reporting Supply Chain.Role of Standards in the Financial Reporting Supply Chain.Financial Reporting Standards.How Financial Reporting Standards Differ among Countries.What Convergence Is–and Is Not.What Is Causing Convergence?Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 2. How Convergence Will Impact the United States.Direct Effects of Convergence.Indirect Effects of Convergence.Who Wins? Who Loses?Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 3. Prepare for the Impact of Convergence Now.What's the Rush?Adverse Consequences of Waiting to Prepare.Impeding Factors.Conclusion.Part I. Epilogue.Note.Part II. Impact of Convergence on Financial Reporting in the United States.Chapter 4. Conceptual Frameworks.Comparison of Conceptual Frameworks.FASB-IASB Joint Conceptual Framework Project.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 5. Principles-Based Standards.Principles versus Rules.U.S. GAAP versus IFRS: Where Are We Now?“Principles Alone” versus “Principles Plus Rules”.Outlook for Converged Standards.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 6. Different Standards for Different Companies?Background.Differential Standards: Three Questions.How Convergence Is Fostering Differential Standards.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 7. Financial Statements: A First Look.References to Standards.Principal Financial Statements.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 8. Fair Value and Related Measurement Issues.Background on Measurement.Focus on Current Exit Price.Current Exit Price and Fair Value.Fair Value: Not One Measurement, But Many.Additional Opposition to Fair Value.Outlook for Improvement and Convergence.Conclusion.Appendix. Summary of Recent Developments in Measurement Standards and Other Guidance.Notes.Chapter 9. Major Asset Classes.Inventory.Property, Plant, and Equipment.Intangibles.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 10. Other Balance Sheet Items.Leases.Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefit Obligations.Deferred Income Tax Effects.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 11. Reporting Financial Performance.Revenue Recognition and Measurement.Income Statement.Cash Flow.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 12. Business Combinations, Intercompany Investments, and Segment Reporting.Business Combinations.Intercompany Investments.Segment Reporting.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 13. Financial Statements: What Is Ahead.Financial Statement Presentation Project.Other Financial Statement Issues.Conclusion.Part II Epilogue.Notes.Part III. Impact of Convergence on U.S. Labor Markets.Chapter 14. Overview of U.S. Labor Markets for Financial Reporting Talent.Geographic Scope of Supply and Demand.Role of U.S. GAAP.Talent Supply Pipeline.Conclusion.Chapter 15. Obsolescence of Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.Why Demand Will Change.Quantitative Changes in Demand.Qualitative Changes in Demand.Short-Term Imbalances in Supply and Demand.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 16. Commoditization of Talent.Global Homogenization of Employers' Demand.From Demand Homogenization to Supply Commoditization.Intermarket Mobility of Employers.Conclusion.Chapter 17. Toward a Global Labor Market for Financial Reporting Talent.Global Desegregation of Labor Markets.Competition in the Global Labor Market.Conclusion.Notes.Chapter 18. Transformation of the Talent Supply Pipeline.Overview of the U.S. Talent Supply Pipeline.Educational Activities in the U.S. Talent Supply Pipeline.Certification of KSAs.Interpipeline Competition.Conclusion.Notes.Part III Epilogue.Part IV. Preparing for the Impact of Convergence.Chapter 19. Overview of the Challenges of Convergence.Why Preparation Matters.Three Challenges.Conclusion.Chapter 20. The Enterprise Challenge: Strategies for Choosing Standards and Implementing Your Choice.Opportunity and Obligation to Choose.Methodology for Choosing.Implementing Your Choice.Conclusion.Appendix. Checklist for Impact Assessment.Chapter 21. Departmental Challenge: Tactics for Managing Talent.Identifying Your Department's Talent Needs.Assuring the Supply of Talent for Your Department.Training and Development.Technical Supervision.Conclusion.Note.Chapter 22. Personal Challenge: Career Choices for a Hypercompetitive Labor Market.Hypercompetition in a Global Labor Market.Managing Your Career.Conclusion.Notes.Part IV Epilogue.Index.

"This guidebook for chief financial officers, vice presidents of finance, controllers, and managers of financial reporting and accounting explains apects related to the global convergence of financial reporting standards, including why the US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) have changed as a result, how to prepare for its challenges, how it will affect financial reporting and US labor markets for financial reporting talent, and how it will impact decision making." (Book News, August 2009) "As he explains in his book, the Convergence Guidebook for Corporate Financial Reporting, both US GAAP and IFRS will change profoundly as the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board continue to converge the two sets of standards." (jobsinthemoney.com, May 2009)