The Financial Accounting Standards Board has pushed back the targeted release date of another proposed accounting standards update, this time delaying by one quarter a final standard on whether companies should be allowed or required to measure investment properties at fair value.

FASB originally planned to finalize a new standard by the second quarter of 2011, along with a host of other major standards as part of its push to eliminate major differences between U.S. and international rules by June 2011. Now, says FASB spokesman Christine Klimek, the exposure draft of a new standard is planned for the first quarter of 2011 with a final standard in the third quarter.

FASB didn’t offer a specific reason for the delay, although it has stretched the timeline recently on other more critical projects while citing a lack of resources. In those cases, the board was faced with considerable pushback on some draft standards that would lead to significant rework for both the staff and the board.

Most notably, the board decided to slow down on a project to reformat the entire package of financial statements, removing the project from its top priority list after outreach activities suggested it still needs a lot more work before it would be ready to finalize. The board also abandoned a plan to finalize a new standard on how to account for contingencies in time for the 2010 reporting year; the board plans to work some more on the proposal after significant criticism with hopes of having a final standard in place for the 2011 reporting year.

The investment properties project is not part of FASB’s convergence agenda with the International Accounting Standards Board, although it is closely linked to an initiative at IASB to consider how companies should treat investment properties. It is also tied to consideration by both boards about how to treat lease accounting.

The boards are trying to decide how a company should account for property that is held for investment purposes and leased out to other entities. FASB seems inclined to require companies to treat such holdings as investments to be measured at fair value, with changes in value flowing through earnings. IASB favors allowing but not requiring such treatment.

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