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The SEC released Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) no. 107, Share-Based Payment (www.sec.gov/interps). Its purpose is to help public companies implement FASB Statement no. 123 (revised 2004), Share-Based Payment (www.fasb.org/pdf/fas123r.pdf), which addresses transactions in which entities exchange their equity instruments for goods or services. The SAB does not alter any conclusions in Statement no. 123(R), but rather says that amounts represented in financial statements for stock option expenses are estimates involving considerable judgment. For example, because the grant-date fair value estimate that Statement no. 123(R) requires is not intended to predict the ultimate value realized by an option holder, the staff will not object to reasonable fair value estimates made in good faith in accordance with the statement, even if subsequent events indicate other estimates would have been more accurate.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) published Interpretation no. 47, Accounting for Conditional Asset Retirement Obligations, which clarifies that the term in its title—and used in FASB Statement no. 143, Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations—describes a legal obligation to perform an asset retirement activity in which the timing and/or method of settlement are conditional on a future event that may not be under the entity’s control. The interpretation is effective no later than the end of fiscal years ending after December 15, 2005 (December 31, 2005, for enterprises reporting on a calendar-year basis). Retrospective application to interim financial information is permitted but not required.

PEEC issued an exposure draft of a new ethics interpretation under Rule 101, Independence (AICPA, Professional Standards, volume 2, ET section 101.01) (www.aicpa.org/members/div/ethics/ethics). The proposed interpretation defines the terms financial interest, direct financial interest and indirect financial interest and provides guidance on their practical application. Comments are due June 17, 2005.

The AICPA Personal Financial Planning Membership Section, state societies and the U.S. Department of Labor are offering free seminars to educate employers and service providers about their fiduciary responsibilities under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) (www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/ebsa/ebsa2004898.htm). Small business owners and CPAs are invited to attend sessions June 22-23 in Little Rock, Ark.; June 28 in Chicago, Ill.; early August in Cleveland, Ohio; and August 17-18 in Jackson, Miss.

The Institute’s Forensic & Litigation Services Committee released Practice Aid 05-1, A CPA’s Guide to Family Law Services (# 055299JA), which provides practical guidance for practitioners providing services involving domestic relations, divorce relations and litigation and matrimonial disputes. This product is available from the AICPA online at www.cpa2biz.com or by calling 888-777-7077.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Concepts Statement no. 3, Communication Methods in General Purpose External Financial Reports That Contain Basic Financial Statements, which defines various means of conveying information and provides criteria for effectively using them. The statement (# GC03) is available from GASB at http://store.yahoo.com/gasbpubs/gc03.html or at 800-748-0659.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) proposed four international auditing standards (ISAs) (www.ifac.org/guidance/exd-outstanding.php): ISA 600 (revised), The Audit of Group Financial Statements; ISA 260 (revised), The Auditor’s Communication with Those Charged with Governance; ISA 705, Modifications to the Opinion in the Independent Auditor’s Report, and ISA 706, Emphasis of Matter Paragraphs and Other Matters Paragraphs in the Independent Auditor’s Report, derived from ISA 701, Modifications to the Independent Auditor’s Report. Comments are due July 31, 2005.

The Institute, the AICPA Foundation, the National Endowment for Financial Education and the American Red Cross jointly published Disasters and Financial Planning: A Guide for Disaster Preparedness, which CPAs can use to help consumers obtain insurance and take other loss-mitigation steps before a catastrophe occurs. “Protecting the public interest is CPAs’ primary mission,” said AICPA Director of Financial Planning Anat Kendal, “and this guide will help us fulfill it.” The publication is available online at www.redcross.org/services/disaster/beprepared/finrecovery/finplan and from Red Cross chapters nationwide.

The AICPA Work/Life and Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee’s new brochure, Mentoring Program Guidelines, offers tips on how to set up mentoring programs, outlines each participant’s responsibilities and includes evaluation forms. The free publication is available online at www.aicpa.org/worklife; print copies can be obtained by writing to educat@aicpa.org.

The AICPA augmented its CPA Marketing Tool Kit with a free brochure, How to Afford a Long, Happy Retirement, that practitioners can share with clients. Members can go to www.aicpa.org/cpamarketing/ and print color or black-and-white versions that leave space for a CPA firm’s name and contact information. The tool kit also includes the text of a speech suitable for presentations on retirement to prospective clients.

Cheryl Linthicum, Mark Taylor and Teri Yohn will begin one-year terms in August as academic accounting fellows in the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant. Linthicum is associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio; Taylor holds the John P. Begley Chair in Accounting at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.; and Yohn is associate professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

The trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation reappointed three members of the International Accounting Standards Board effective July 1, 2005. Robert Garnett, Gilbert Glard and James Leisenring each will serve an additional five-year term.