Top 10

As we enter 2010, we thought we'd respond to a suggestion made by one of our readers to provide a Top 10 list of our most popular - and favorite - blog posts in the FEI blog in 2009.

Top 10 FEI blog posts in 2009, by number of pageviews (from #1 to #10):

1. FASB Issues FAS 166, 167 Amending FAS 140, FIN 46R on Securitizations, SPEs
2. FASB Releases FAS 165, Subsequent Events
3. Testimony Posted for Mark-to-Market Hearing; Sen. Dodd Considers 'Breakers,' Niederauer Sees MTM as 'Gas on a Fire'
4. IASB Releases IFRS 9 - Financial Instruments (Completes 1st Phase of Project: Classification & Measurement)
5. FAS 166, 167 Putting the Kibosh on Q's Expected This Week; SEC Forms Investor Advisory Committee
6. SEC's 'Dear CFO' Letter on MD&A Disclosure of Loan Loss Provisions, ALLL
7. Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act (FERA) Picks Up Speed; Madoff Update
8. FASB Releases 'Plain English' Statement on Fair Value Actions
9. FASB Issues FSP EITF 99-20-1 on Impairment of Financial Instruments (OTTI)
10. FASB Stakes Claim on Disclosure of Litigation Contingencies

Top 10 FEI blog posts in 2009 - my personal favorites
Note: I found it difficult to narrow down my 'favorites' to just 10 posts, so I narrowed it down to 10 categories, some with multiple posts. The listings within each category generally represent my favorite posts on that topic in 2009 (with a few non-favorites thrown in to provide historical/chronological context within some of the more detailed categories); however the lists below are not a comprehensive list of all posts we made on any particular topic. (Note: I have excluded from the list a few posts that are among my personal favorites, but relate to holidays or other particular events.) Categories are listed in alphabetical order; posts within categories are generally listed chronologically.

1. Credit Crisis, Financial Regulatory Reform; Related SEC Actions

• SEC's Schapiro Announces Enforcement, Investor Initiatives; Becker Returns to SEC
• Unstuck From The Moment: Financial Stability Plan to be Unveiled by Geithner Today
• Fact Sheet, Geithner Speech Posted: Treasury's Financial Stability Plan
• Under Pressure
• Obama on Regulation
• Treasury Releases Reg Reform Paper in Advance of Press Conference
• Say, Say, Say-on-Pay
• H.R. 4173, Wall St. Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Passes House; Summary of Accounting, Audit Related Provisions
• Proxy Disclosure of Stock-Based Comp to Change Under SEC Final Rule Approved Today; Other Disclosures Relate to Governance, Risk and Compensation

2. Fair value/mark-to-market accounting; loan loss accounting:

• User Views on Fair Value, More
• Suspend Disbelief: How Fair Value Accounting Could Be Modified For Geithner's Plan
• FASB, SEC Commit to Provide Fair Value (Mark-to-Market) Guidance by April 2
• FASB Releases 'Plain English' Statement On Fair Value Actions
• Herz Tells FCAG, 'Rethinks' Exit Value in Certain Circumstances
• SEC's 'Dear CFO' Letter on MD&A Disclosure of Loan Loss Provisions, ALLL

3. International Financial Reporting Standards and Convergence

• No IFRS, Ands Or Buts Until Convergence, NASBA Tells SEC
• Map Quest: Comments Roll In On SEC IFRS Roadmap
• G-20 Calls for Convergence By June, 2011
• FASB, IASB To 'Retriple' Efforts to Meet 2011 Convergence Deadline; FASB, IASB Reaffirm Convergence by June, 2011
• May be a Silver Lining to Current Non-endorsement of IFRS 9 by European Commission, IASB Board Member Says
• IFRS Roadmap Action Expected in Early 2010; Says SEC's Walter

4. Leadership

• Profession Mourns Ben Neuhausen

5. Legal:

• Disclosure Is Not a Place to Try A Lawsuit, ABA Tells FASB
• SEC's Khuzami 'Skeptical' of Auditors' Claims on Privilege

6. Madoff:

• Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Is Over, Dodd Tells Madoff Hearing; Schapiro, Geithner Sworn In
• Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years
• SEC OIG Report on Madoff Affair: A Tale of Redemption

7. Private companies:

• IASB Publishes IFRS for SMEs
• FASB Advisory Committee Calls For FAF To Consider Separate Private Co. GAAP
• FEI Applauds Formation of Blue Ribbon Panel on Private Co. Accounting

8. Sarbanes-Oxley, PCAOB, and COSO

• SEC Extends Sarbanes-Oxley 404(b) Deadline For Small Co's [See also Sarbanes-Oxley related provisions in H.R. 4173 listed under Credit Crisis, Financial Regulatory Reform category above.]
• PCAOB, Awaiting Supreme Court, Approves Budget; PCAOB Approves AS7, Engagement Quality Review; PCAOB Reproposes Risk Assessment Standards; PCAOB Announces Ambitious Agenda; May Be Time To 'Dial Up' on Fraud, Silvers Says
• COSO Updated Fraud Study Coming; Garrett Proposes Sarbox Exemption; COSO Releases Thought Paper on ERM; COSO To Release Monitoring Guidance Feb. 4; Seeks New Chair

9. Social Media:

• Social Media, YouTube and Us
• Get a (Second) Life
• Accounting Gets Its Own Tabloid; SEC Offers Email News

10. Standard-Setting:

• FASB and Due Process
• FASB Adds Project on Disclosure Framework; Will Not Be 'Additive,' Says Herz
• Yin-Yang Time for Regulators, Standard-Setters
• Why Accounting Matters

More Lists
We thank one of our blog readers, Prof. David Albrecht, author of The Summa, for his suggestion (received via Twitter) to provide a Top 10 list of our 2009 posts; see his own top 10 list for his blog, in Best of The Summa 2009.

Separately, CFO.com published a number of "Best of..." lists of their 2009 coverage of various topics; see e.g. CFO.com's Best of 2009: Accounting.

[UPDATE: Another great list, which I found when catching up on year-end emails, was the one posted by Bill Sheridan on Dec. 31 in the Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA) blog, CPA Success, entitled, The Mother of All Year-End Lists.]

Looking ahead, (as we noted in our post on Dec. 21), see also FEI President & CEO's List of Top Challenges for Financial Executives in 2010.

It would be intriguing to see other bloggers and writers post top 10 lists of their most popular and/or favorite posts from 2009, and/or their lists of what they anticipate the top challenges for 2010 to be. I encourage other bloggers and writers who publish such lists to post a comment below, linking to their list. We also welcome general feedback from readers; you can post a comment anonymously, or with your name.