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Publications
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The quarter close - a look at this quarter's financial issues This quarterly publication provides key highlights from the last few months and identifies additional resources that provide more detailed information and guidance. |
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Our focus on audit quality This report describes what PwC is doing to achieve our objective of consistently performing high-quality audits over the long term to continue to contribute to the vibrancy of the capital markets. |
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What investment professionals say about financial instrument reporting PricewaterhouseCoopers decided to gain, firsthand, a better understanding of how individual investment professionals around the world view the alternative approaches to measuring financial instruments. The results are enlightening and somewhat surprising. |
Point of View: Slowing down the pace of standard setting
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are working on several joint projects designed to improve financial reporting information for investors while aligning U.S. and international accounting standards. While convergence is an important component of achieving a single set of high quality global accounting standards, some question whether the 2011 deadline can be met given the multitude of convergence projects.
To the point: Current issues for boards of directors
This quarterly publication is designed to address select topics that are of immediate interest to directors. As the title suggests, To the point addresses contemporary issues and is meant to be impactful, insightful, and concise.
The winter edition of To the point includes articles on the new proxy disclosures announced by the SEC in December, changing dynamics in director elections, and areas of segment reporting that need to be watched.
10Minutes on compensation
10Minutes on compensation, PwC looks at how new federal guidance refines the pay-for-performance model. The new guidance comes from various quarters and applies to all public companies, not just banks and financial services institutions. Collectively, it aims to balance short-term performance objectives — and the risk-taking they engender — with long-term value creation and market stability.
As a result of the new guidance, companies across all sectors will need to take a much broader view of performance and its relationship to risk. They may also have to disclose a good deal more about their risk-and-reward models. Those that approach the new requirements as an opportunity, rather than just a compliance exercise, can derive long-term benefits from the pay-for-performance model's evolution.
10Minutes on off balance sheet accounting
In January 2010, new reporting requirements will bring more off-balance-sheet arrangements on to the books of both financial and nonfinancial firms. These changes will affect more than just financial reporting. Some asset-based financing techniques may become less attractive, while current or planned collaborations with other companies may need to be rethought or restructured.
Financial metrics, operations, stakeholder communications, internal controls, and IT systems may be affected as well. 10Minutes on off-balance-sheet arrangements explains how these upcoming changes may affect how companies design and manage future financing transactions and strategic relationships. It also suggests specific action steps companies can take to prepare today…before the new rules go into effect.
10Minutes on fair value in financial reporting
In recent months, severe and progressive declines in the credit markets have rattled the economy, converting what used to be a technical issue into a full-blown public debate: when and how should fair value be developed and reported? This edition of 10Minutes clarifies this complicated issue, presenting PwC's perspectives on when reporting fair value provides meaningful information and when it proves an awkward fit in today's financial reporting environment - all from the perspective of CEOs, CFOs, and board members. It also shares ideas for a practical path forward and highlights what companies can do now to improve how fair value is reported to investors.
10Minutes on current developments for directors
With the markets still in crisis, many businesses are focused more on day-to-day survival than on the emerging economic reality. To successfully adapt to the new order, businesses will need to keep an ear to the ground, determining which long-held assumptions about market forces are losing currency. What takes the place of those assumptions will reflect both the changing business landscape and the evolving regulatory environment. Directors are bringing their diverse experience and wisdom to bear as they help management negotiate the new terrain. This issue of PwC's 10Minutes discusses what that entails, pointing to actions directors are taking to keep their companies on course.
