Roberts Corporation and William Company (Critique and Final Submission)

Roberts Corporation and William Company (Critique and Final Submission)

The FASB issued two new pronouncements in December of 2007 that significantly impact the accounting for business combinations in the United States. SFAS 141R supercedes SFAS 141 and requires the Acquisition Methodbe used in place of the Purchase Method for new acquisitions in reporting periods beginning on or after December 31, 2008(fiscal year 2009 for most companies). SFAS 160 replaces Accounting Research Bulletin (ARB) 51 and requires the use of the economic entity approach to recognizing the noncontrolling interest in the financial statements for less than wholly owned subsidiaries.

The full text of both of these pronouncements is available on the FASB Web site. You are required to research SFAS 141R and SFAS 160 using these and any other appropriate resources (scholarly or professional journals) and prepare a short research report (three- to five-pages) as the final requirement for the final project.

From the perspective of the hypothetical business combination of Roberts and William and based upon the work you have done to date, you are required to assess and determine the impact upon the consolidation of these two companies of these new pronouncements. Your analysis should include both an executive summary of the changes and, importantly, a critique of how these changes in practice will improve financial reporting and why. Submit your final report along with any references cited as a Microsoft Word document to the instructor. You should also post your summary to the Discussion Area so that other students may read and respond to it.