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The AICPA staff issued two technical practice aids (TPAs) (www.aicpa.org/members/div/acctstd/) on the applicability of FASB Interpretation no. 45, “Guarantor’s Accounting and Disclosure Requirements for Guarantees, Including Indirect Guarantees of Indebtedness of Others” (www.fasb.org/st/summary). TPA 6400.45 addresses physician loans, and TPA 6400.46 discusses mortgage guarantees. Practitioners are encouraged to implement the guidance as soon as possible.

To stave off double-digit increases in the cost of employee health plans, small and midsize companies cut benefits in 2003, according to a survey and analysis by Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Marsh Inc. (www.marsh.com). This held costs to an average of $6,130 per worker, up 9.8% since 2002. Companies with fewer than 50 employees limited their per capita costs to $5,795 by instituting provisions discouraging dependent coverage and imposing high deductibles. But businesses with 1,000 to 1,999 employees spent considerably more—$6,472—per worker, reflecting the challenge of competing for labor with larger employers that have greater purchasing power. The findings are based on responses from 1,904 employers.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement no. 45, Accounting and Financial Reporting by Employers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions, which generally requires state and local governments to account for and report costs and obligations related to postemployment health care and other nonpension benefits, commonly referred to as other postemployment benefits, by the same methods they use for pensions (www.gasb.org/news/nr080204.html). Large—in terms of total annual revenues—government employers must implement the statement’s provisions for periods beginning after December 15, 2006. Midsize and small governments have one and two years beyond that date, respectively, to comply. GASB published related guidance—Statement no. 43, Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefit Plans Other Than Pension Plans (www.gasb.org/news/nr051104-A.html)—in April. Both statements are available from GASB’s order department at 800-748-0659 or online at http://store.yahoo.com/gasbpubs.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants issued an exposure draft (ED)—mentioned briefly in the September JofA News Digest—that proposes improving the board’s due process and working procedures by encouraging broader constituent participation through public forums or requests for comments on proposed rule changes; enhancing meeting agenda material and improving the board’s access to comment letters to facilitate its deliberations; expanding the description of the process by which the board considers reexposing a draft international standard or practice statement; instituting procedures for resolving due-process issues and other measures. Comments on the ED (www.ifac.org/news) are due October 15.

The federal financial institutions regulatory agencies—the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision—issued Bank Secrecy Act procedures that guide implementation of, and provide a consistent approach to examining, the customer identification programs (CIP) that domestic and foreign banking organizations were required to establish under section 326 of the USA Patriot Act. By October 1, 2003, each financial institution had to establish and incorporate into its anti-money-laundering compliance program a written CIP appropriate to the institution’s size and type

The General Accounting Office on July 7, 2004, changed its name to the Government Accountability Office in accordance with the GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004, which reorganized the watchdog agency’s personnel management and compensation systems (www.gao.gov/about/namechange.html).

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) named Richard D. Clark, CPA, director of the office of financial analysis and risk assessment, which will collect, assimilate and analyze risk assessment and other information for the board. Clark has 27 years of experience as a forensic accountant and is a retired Naval Reserve intelligence officer and former IRS special agent.

Philip T. Calder, CPA, retired as GAO representative on the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), on which he had served since 1996. Calder joined the GAO after a 35-year career with Arthur Young & Co. and Ernst & Young.

FASAB’s sponsors—John W. Snow, Treasury secretary; Joshua B. Bolton, Office of Management and Budget director; and David M. Walker, U.S. comptroller general—who authorize accounting and financial reporting standards for federal entities, reappointed three CPAs to the board: Chairman David Mosso, James M. Patton and John A. Farrell.