Please join us at Stanford Law School as experts from Stanford and other leading universities, the Big 4 accounting firms, and the Valley’s best legal professionals provide a wide ranging discussion of Financial Accounting Standards No. 5. and offer insight on FAS 5 implementation issues.

Financial Accounting Standards No. 5 (FAS 5) seeks to require additional disclosure from companies in reporting loss contingencies.  One key aspect is the proposed standard by which the firm must report a “probable” loss arising from litigation in the financial statements.  Many commentators argue that the proposed standard, by altering the definitions of “probable” and forcing onto balance sheets “losses” that may, in fact, never occur will result in the understatement of firm values precisely when volatile markets need better assurance of companies’ economic strength.  Others argue that companies have to reflect litigation losses that are apt to occur in order to give investors an accurate valuation; only when all possible losses are transparent, they argue, will markets regain confidence.  Find out the challenges and unintended consequences you or your clients face in an environment that demands greater, though not necessarily better, disclosure.

MCLE credits available.