FASB extends consultation due to Sandy

Private equity firms and other key stakeholders now have until 9 November to submit comments on a US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) working paper that outlines how US accounting standards could be modified to fit the needs of private companies. Comments were originally due by the end of October. 

Commenting on the extension deadline, FASB chairman Leslie Seidman said: “We realise that a substantial number of our private company stakeholders were affected by Hurricane Sandy and may have been prevented from meeting the original deadline”. 

Last week PE Manager reported the hurricane had resulted in many private equity and law firms temporarily shuttering their offices following power losses and limited transportation available to commuters. With electricity slowly returning to lower Manhattan and subway lines reconnecting Manhattan to Queens and Brooklyn, a sense of normalcy is beginning to develop for New York City firms. However the hardest hit neighborhoods in Queens, Staten Island, the Jersey Shore and Long Island, among other locales, remain in the dark. 

In late July FASB released proposals describing how it could work alongside the newly formed Private Company Council (PCC) in deciding whether and when to modify US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for private businesses. The PCC was in part created to address criticisms that US accounting standards are more geared towards the needs of large public companies. Before being incorporated into US GAAP, PCC recommendations will be subject to a FASB endorsement process.

Written comments may be submitted using FASB’s electronic feedback form. Stakeholders can also provide their comments in the form of a written letter by submitting their comments via email to director@fasb.org, File Reference No. 2012-230.