This was seen as an area of contention when the ED was first issued. Also, we modified the ED's requirement that comprehensive income be reported in a statement of financial performance. Companies may report comprehensive income in a statement of changes in equity or in an income statement-type format. They may think the final statement is therefore less stringent than the ED, but Reither stressed this is not the case. We still require a total.
Companies have to add net income to other comprehensive income.
Reither said that if companies choose the equity format, they will have to display a statement of changes in equity as a primary financial statement, even though the Securities and Exchange Commission allows companies to place that statement in the financial statement notes. Also, the effective date was pushed ahead one year to fiscal years beginning after December 15, 1997. Reclassification adjustments will not be required, but will be encouraged, for earlier period financial statements presented for comparison with the first period in which the final statement is adopted. Costs M any CPAs have searched for broad authoritative guidance on the financial accounting of start-up costs. Except for those in a few specialized industries, noted below, most have been unable to find such guidance because there is none.