FASB is coming up on the launch of its “codification” effort, as it streamlines rules into more of a single-source organization.  The initiative is designed to make guidelines more navigable, and while it will make things easier in the long run there undoubtedly will be some short term pain.

As CFO magazine points out in their recent piece on the new FASB Code:

The debut of the online filing cabinet promises to streamline GAAP by grouping all rules into roughly 90 topics, and should draw a sharper distinction between authoritative and non-authoritative GAAP. However, less than three weeks away from the launch, there are still many unknowns, including whether or not the FASB’s promise that GAAP is not changing will turn out to be true.

With questions still swirling, MFA invites those trying to get ahead of the issue to download more background on the FASB accounting standards codification or for a higher level look, register for this week’s webinar on the purpose of the new codification and the best way to make the transition.

We’ve been keeping close track of the Massachusetts Privacy Law, with some recent comments specifically about the compliance work nonprofits will need to perform.  Halfway to the deadline, now, and we encourage organizations of all types to do a quick check of where they stand, as the penalties for noncompliance will be steep.

To get more information, you can also check out this archived MFA webinar.

Interesting focus lately on a couple of areas that relate to M&A in this environment; companies are getting more creative about deals and thereby run the risk of triggering tax issues that weren’t as prevalent in the bull market days. We wrote about this last week in TheDeal.com (check out the article called “Dealing with the Code“), and it seems to be top of mind in other areas as well.

Most recognized is the use of net operating losses (NOLs) to offset taxes and make deals more attractive; the inherent value of NOLs is earning some attention as companies take major steps to protect them.  This is outlined in TheDeal.com article but also highlighted in a recent piece from CFO Magazine about GM’s bankruptcy plans.  As the magazine writes,

the IRS substantially curbs the amount of NOLs that can be used when there’s a change of ownership. In that way, the government prevents corporations from buying loss companies just to latch on to NOLs for their accompanying tax benefits…[but] bailout plans can’t limit the taxable income of companies benefiting from them.

The historically difficult environment is giving rise to exceptions like this and to opportunities for acquiring companies to get creative with the way they structure deals.  Dealflow might be slow, but it’s still moving and knowing how tax issues can help or hurt transactions will be key as we close in on the latter half of 2009.