Business Frame Weekly - FASB Seeks Input on Conceptual Framework / SEC Unveils 5-Year Strategic Plan / Alation Connected Sheets Launches

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is currently seeking comments from stakeholders on the proposed new chapter of its Conceptual Framework related to the recognition/derecognition of an item in financial statements. Comments are due by Feb 21, 2023.

The SEC released its 5-year strategic plan for fiscal years 2022 through 2026 in order to outline their missions, planned initiatives, and strategic goals. Some of the plans include launching a robust regulatory framework that keeps pace with evolving markets, business models, and technologies.

A new product, Alation Connected Sheets, was released this week in order to solve fundamental challenges of spreadsheets, such as being difficult to find and verify data. The product is able to pull in trusted data from sources directly into the spreadsheet natively and is currently fully available for Google Sheets.

In this newsletter:

• FASB Seeks Input on Proposed New Chapter of Its Conceptual Framework: Recognition and Derecognition
• SEC Publishes 5-Year Strategic Plan
• Alation Connected Sheets Brings Trust to Spreadsheets
• Digital Black Friday Sales Top Forecasts Despite Inflation, Report Says
• HR and IT Departments Will Have to Work Together to Recruit and Retain Talent
• Company Debt with a Long Maturity Jumped the Most Since 2008

November 29, 2022

FASB Seeks Input on Proposed New Chapter of Its Conceptual Framework: Recognition and Derecognition

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today issued a proposed new chapter of its Conceptual Framework related to the recognition and derecognition of an item in financial statements. The Conceptual Framework is a body of interrelated objectives and fundamentals that provides the FASB with a useful tool as it sets standards. Stakeholders are encouraged to review and provide comments on the proposed chapter by February 21, 2023. The proposed chapter would become Chapter 5 of FASB Concepts Statement No. 8, Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting.

SEC Publishes 5-Year Strategic Plan

The SEC has released its Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2022 through 2026. The SEC's primary goals call for the commission to: Protect the investing public against fraud, manipulation, and misconduct. Develop and implement a robust regulatory framework that keeps pace with evolving markets, business models, and technologies. And support a skilled workforce that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive and is fully equipped to advance agency objectives. The SEC released the plan in draft form earlier this year. The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, P.L. 111-352, requires federal agencies to outline their missions, planned initiatives, and strategic goals for a four-year period.

Alation Connected Sheets Brings Trust to Spreadsheets

With the release of 2022.4, Alation is excited to unveil Alation Connected Sheets, a new product that brings trusted, fresh data directly to spreadsheet users. Now, “spreadsheet jockeys” can pull the most current, compliant data directly from a range of cloud sources, without having to know SQL or depend on a data team to deliver it. They can even set their spreadsheets to auto-refresh on schedule, saving valuable time, money, and resources. Alation Connected Sheets is fully available for Google Sheets, with plans to integrate with Excel coming very soon.

Digital Black Friday Sales Top Forecasts Despite Inflation, Report Says

Deal-hunting Americans shrugged off sky-high inflation on Black Friday, spending in record-breaking numbers online even as brick-and-mortar stores enjoyed the fading of COVID-19 concerns. Customers spent $14.42 billion between Thanksgiving and Black Friday—up from a combined $14.04 billion initially projected, according to Adobe Analytics. Online holiday season shopping was projected to rack up $210 billion, up from last year’s $205 billion, which was itself a marked increase from 2020′s $188 billion, Adobe Analytics reported. Still, the rise did not keep up with an annual inflation rate that was near 8% in October.

HR and IT Departments Will Have to Work Together to Recruit and Retain Talent

"The partnership between IT and HR is essential when it comes to improving an organization's culture, productivity, and overall collaboration," says Julie Simmons, chief information officer at Coca-Cola bottler and distributor, Swire Coca-Cola. The overall loss of everyday in-person contact and conversation has pushed chief human resource officers and chief information officers to work together in order to truly understand how well their employees are not only doing their job, but how they feel about that job. "Technological tools are the silent drivers behind an employee's affinity for their company," Simmons says. "This is especially true as we've seen the introduction of AI, which helps organizations collect data in real time, become more mainstream in the last few years.”

Company Debt with a Long Maturity Jumped the Most Since 2008

Credit investors are piling back into debt with long maturities hoping that the Federal Reserve will soon slow its pace of tightening. US corporate debt due in 10 years or more has surged 9.5% so far this month, on track for its biggest leap since December 2008. The bonds have plunged more than 24% in 2022 given their high duration, which causes prices to drop as rates rise. In addition, blue-chip company bonds with a maturity of 10 years or more have returned about 2.4 percentage points more than equivalent Treasuries since Oct. 31. Credit buyers are getting more confident that the Fed is in sight of an ultimate terminal rate and US economic data are showing signs of stability, CreditSights Inc. strategists led by Winnie Cisar wrote in a report dated Nov. 21.

Random Ramblings

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