Last month the FASB held its long-awaited public hearing on its Invitation to Comment (ITC) on the need for valuation guidance.  Participants included representatives from the “Big 4” as well as the "big five" BV societies: Carla Glass (Appraisal Foundation), Bruce Bingham (ASA), Dan Noll (AICPA), Kristian Knibutat (CICBV), and Mark Hanson (NACVA).  The SEC’s Tjon-Hing was also there, along with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s rep.

“The appraisal profession is at a tough time in terms of self-regulation,” Tony Aaron (Ernst & Young) told attendees at the LA ASA meeting.  “We have every standard available—but are being told we don’t have enough.”  Appraisers don’t have a best practices guide specific to financial accounting, and efforts by the Appraisal Foundation to develop one may be “too little too late,” Aaron said.  “FASB deliberations may overshadow the valuation profession’s efforts at self-regulation and marginalize them.” 

Notably, the FASB has posted the hand-outs to its April 30th roundtable in Norwalk, Connecticut, and an audio transcript of the meeting is available here.