FASB to Re-expose Proposed Standard on Revenue Recognition

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June 23, 2011

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board announced last week that they will re-expose the proposed standard on revenue recognition. The revised exposure draft is expected to be issued in the third quarter of 2011, with a 120-day comment period. This pushes the expected timeline for issuing a final standard into 2012.

Although there is no formal due process requirement to re-expose the standard, the Boards indicated that it was appropriate "given the importance of the revenue number to all companies and the need to take all possible steps to avoid unintended consequences." In addition to questions on specific aspects of the revised proposals, the Boards intend to seek feedback on the extent to which the revised requirements are understandable, and to ensure that the requirements have not created unintended consequences for specific contracts or industries.

In October 2010, NACUBO submitted comments to FASB's original proposals and participated in a public roundtable hosted by FASB in November 2010. NACUBO raised concerns about potential issues with recognition of revenue on sponsored research projects and tuition. We continue to monitor this important project and will provide feedback to FASB when the revised exposure draft is issued.