IASB, FASB issue joint proposals on business combinations.

The International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board have each published an exposure draft containing joint proposals to improve and align the accounting for business combinations. The proposals include a draft standard that the boards developed in their first major joint project. The objective of the project is to develop a single high-quality standard for accounting for business combinations that could be used for both domestic and cross-border financial reporting. The proposed standard would replace the existing requirements of the IASB's IFRS 3, Business Combinations. and the FASB's Statement No. 141, Business Combinations.

The exposure drafts are available on the FASB's Web site at www.fasb.org and the IASB's Web site at www.iasb.org. Comments are due Oct. 28. The FASB and the IASB plan to hold public roundtable meetings to gather additional input on the proposals.