Beginning on January 8, 2008, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will launch a series of free webcasts focusing “on topics of importance to its constituents,” according to its latest announcement.   This first one, “Towards a Global Reporting System: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?” will feature panelists Robert Herz (FASB chair), Peter Bridgman (PepsiCo), Greg Jonas (Moody’s) and Sam Ranzilla (KPMG).  Moderated by Wall Street Journal reporter David Reilly, the panel will discuss international convergence of accounting standards and the implications of moving the U.S. toward adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).   They will also talk about what steps are necessary to ensure a successful transition to IFRS; how this transition will provide better information to investors; and progress made by the FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to create common accounting standards.  The panelists will take email questions from viewers during the one-hour event, which begins on January 8th at 10:30 EST.  The webcast will be archived on the FASB website for public access.  To register for the live and/or archived webcast, click here.

At its last meeting in November, the FASB also updated its Financial Statement Presentation Project, a joint effort with the IASB to “establish a common, high-quality standard for presentation of information in the basic financial statements.”   The latest summary of Phase B is here.  The Boards still anticipate releasing a draft discussion document during the second quarter, 2008.