The process the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are using to consider a major insurance contracts accounting project will keep commenters from addressing critical issues, U.S. insurance groups charge.
The Group of North American Insurance Enterprises (GNAIE), New York, has joined with the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) and two large property-casualty (p-c) groups to write in opposition to the accounting standards development process.
The p-c groups are the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, Indianapolis, and the Property Casualty Insurance Association of America, Des Plaines, Ill.
IASB and FASB are preparing to hold a joint meeting Wednesday.
A staff proposal prepared for the joint meeting "effectively prohibits significant discussions of issues raised in the comment letter process," the GNAIE and its allies say.
Staffers have set forth axioms and assumptions that could be used to finalize an IASB exposure draft and a FASB discussion paper without adequately addressing investor and analyst criticisms of the IASB draft, the GNAIE and its allies say.
The GNAIE and its allies say they thought IASB and FASB were going to discuss the issues more thoroughly in mid-February.
"We recommend … that the staff withdraw this paper and allow the previously planned re-deliberation process to evolve and address all of the significant issues identified by key constituents in both the comment letters and the public roundtables," the GNAIE and its allies say.
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