Thomas Linsmeier and the Future of Financial Statements

While in town to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award, Tom Linsmeier gave a public talk on the future of financial statements. Tom shared his thoughts on the current economic situation and dealt with issues such as mark-to-model accounting and regulatory forbearance. In addition, Tom explained the FASB’s newest project of reorganizing financial statements in order to improve usefulness and communication between management and users. This reorganization will have the financial statements portraying a cohesive financial picture by making clear the relationships between the statements and disaggregating information to be more useful. Tom gave an engaging and informative speech to those in attendance.

In addition to the public talk on campus, Tom met with alumni and other professionals in Milwaukee at an event co-sponsored by Foley and Lardner, where Tom discussed fair value accounting and other evolving FASB agenda items. These two talks were sponsored by the Arthur Andersen Center for Financial Reporting.