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NORWALK, CONN. - If Dennis R. Beresford has anything to do with it - and he will - the Financial Accounting Standards Board will blaze into 1997 and gallop hard and heavy for the first six months. What happens after June 30, however, is not his business. That is when his decade-long term as chairman will come to an end.
"Actually I'm glad to be leaving the FASB," Beresford says. "It's one of the strengths of the organization that we have reasonable turnover. I think it will be good for the organization and for me if I move on to other things."
But Beresford expects to enjoy the challenges of the next six months. He has started a number of very important projects and wants to either finish or push them as far as they'll go.
Principal among them are all issues involving international accounting.
"One thing I feel good about is that I got FASB interested in international accounting in the first place, back when it was a non-concern here," Beresford admits. "Now it is a pervasive part of everything we do."
One of the most aggressively international projects is the work toward a Canadian-American statement on segment reporting. The board has been working in tandem with the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, and both organizations issued identical exposure drafts in 1996. Public comment has expressed concern with the burden of additional disclosures and the effect of disclosures on competition, but a final statement is possible by June.
The project is further complicated by a parallel project...