The Financial Accounting Standards Board has no plans to dig deeply into its fair value measurement rules and consider big changes after a post-implementation review concluded things are working essentially as intended.

In a letter to the Financial Accounting Foundation, which performed the post-implementation review of Financial Accounting Statement No. 157: Fair Value Measurement, FASB Chairman Russ Golden says the board will perform some additional research on fair value as it intersects with some in-process projects and initiatives, such as a disclosure framework project, efforts to simplify financial reporting, and consideration of possible changes for employee benefit plan accounting, private company accounting, and not-for-profit issues.

That's in response to the PIR team's finding that some stakeholders provided mixed or conflicting feedback on the utility of current fair value measurement requirements. “Given the PIR Report concludes that Statement 157 was successful in achieving its objectives and that Statement 157 generally provides investors with decision-useful information, the FASB sees no need to undertake a comprehensive review of Statement 157,” Golden wrote. The PIR report concludes other regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, have driven cost in applying the fair value rules based on their interpretations.

He also acknowledged the PIR team's recommendation that FASB do more to document how it considers costs and benefits of possible rule changes as well as its outreach with users of financial statements. “We view both of these areas as critical to the strengthening of the credibility of our due process efforts, and we appreciate the recommendations,” Golden wrote. He said the board has already made significant improvements to its standard setting process since 2006 when it issued FAS 157, now codified in the Accounting Standards Codification under Topic 820.

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