Highlights.

SEC EXTENDS TIME FOR SAB 101 COMPLIANCE

In June, the SEC issued Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) no. 101B, which allows companies registered with the commission to wait till the fourth quarter of fiscal years beginning after December 15, 1999, to implement SAB no. 101.

SAB no. 101, which had been issued in December, provides guidance on the recognition, presentation and disclosure of revenue in financial statements filed with the commission. The extension gives registrants additional time--up to nine months for stone--to assess the impact of SAB no. 101 on their financial statements. An earlier SEC bulletin, SAB no. 101A, had already granted a three-month extension (see Highlights, May00, JofA, page 6.)

Responding to requests for clarification on revenue recognition and the implementation of SAB no. 101, the SEC staff is developing a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document.

The SEC has also reminded registrants and their auditors of disclosure obligations discussed in SAB Topic 11M, Disclosure of the Impact that Recently Issued Accounting Standards Will Have on the Financial Statements of a Registrant When Adopted in a Future Period, issued several years ago and in the AICPA's Professional Standards, AU 9410.3, The Impact on an Auditor's Report of an FASB Statement Prior to the Statement's Effective Date. According to the commission, the disclosure should assist investors in analyzing the effect that implementing the new guidance will have on a company's financial statements.

SAB no. 101B is available on the SEC Web site at www.sec.gov.

CEOs HAVE MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT E-BUSINESS

It's never been easy to chart the course a major corporation should follow. And today a bewildering assortment of choices confronts CEOs attempting to use new technologies to the greatest competitive advantage. But the more these opportunities are accompanied by uncertainty--regardless of their upside potential--the less senior management wants to be held accountable for making them pay off.

Perhaps none of these questions is more problematic than how to design and implement an e-business strategy. No matter how carefully a CEO prepares a particular strategy, it can pose considerable risk to the well-being of the enterprise and to his or her own career.

Not surprisingly, when Chicago-based management consulting firm A.T. Kearney conducted a recent survey of more than 250 CEOs from 26 countries and 10 industries, the responses reflected a cautious approach to e-business. Collectively, the survey results indicated that while corporate leaders are mindful of the central role e-commerce has in their companies' plans for the future, they tend to downplay its importance as the principal element in success.

For example, only 4% of respondents said e-business is the main challenge facing them today while nearly 75% said it will have either an extreme or a moderate impact on future product offerings. Further, 72% said their companies were either extremely or moderately active in creating or maintaining an e-commerce strategy. The bottom line? E-business is moving inexorably forward, but few CEOs are brave or brash enough to lead the way down its relatively unmarked trail.