Accounting and finance students at the Naveen Jindal School of Management recently experienced what for some could be a once-in-a-career moment when they got to meet and hear a thought leader in the profession.
Dr. Christine Botosan, a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the independent organization recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission as the standards setter for public companies, gave a presentation at JSOM on Sept. 28. In “Pathway to an Integrated Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting,” she discussed the FASB’s operations and highlighted its current projects.
“The opportunity to interact with Dr. Botosan was special because she and her fellow board members, along with FASB’s professional staff, are doing the deep thinking about how to continually improve financial reporting,” said John Gamino, director of the undergraduate accounting program. “For many students the chance to interact with a board member may come only once in a long career.”
Botosan spoke in the Davidson Auditorium in front of almost 250 audience members, mostly accounting and finance students, but also faculty and staff. A former accounting professor, Botosan was aware of her audience’s needs, so she began her presentation by setting up some learning expectations.
“I’m hoping that after we’ve had a chance to talk about this material, that it really will help you to think through accounting issues and to … understand some of what you’re learning in the classroom in a way that you may not have appreciated in the past,” she said.
Botosan set up the context of her discussion by sharing the FASB’s current agenda, which includes three topic areas: framework projects, presentation and disclosure projects, and recognition and measurement projects.
The audience gained insight into the intention of those projects. Botosan, who is two years into her first five-year term on the board, said the board would not be issuing many major standards during the remainder of her term but rather would focus mainly on minor but important fixes.
“We’re going to be working on the edges, fixing some things that need to be fixed,” she said. “But [we will be] really investing a lot of our resources in implementation support.”
Botosan had the audience imagine being “in the shoes of a standards setter for a moment” and described a current project the FASB is considering, which is deciding on how to distinguish a corporation’s liabilities from its equity. Botosan explained that standards would be set for this project when the board comes to an agreement on definitions of liabilities and equities. This, she said, will provide corporate board members some comfort when they are tasked with making future decisions.
“Textbooks can make the rules of financial reporting seem static, while they are anything but,” Gamino said. “That’s why Dr. Botosan’s visit was so special. She brought a perspective that many of the students otherwise might never get to experience.”
For her part, Botosan was grateful to be able to interact with students who would be in positions one day to be able to share their perspectives, which, she said, the FASB needs to do its job.
“They’re … the accountants of tomorrow,” she said. “Our constituents are incredibly important. If they understand what we do and [that] what we do is … important, then I hope someday they’ll engage with us. And they’re just fun to talk to,” she added.
