Academic Research on FIN 48: What Have We Learned? Prepared for the Financial Accounting Foundations’ Post-Implementation Review of Financial Accounting Standards Board Interpretation No. 48

Abstract

This paper is the academic literature review delivered to the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) in October 2011 as part of a post-implementation review (PIR). The FAF determined in 2009 that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) standard setting process required a formal review to monitor and address issues that can arise after the implementation of accounting standards. The FAF selected FASB Interpretation No. 48 (FIN 48), Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, as the initial PIR standard. Moreover, the FAF identified academic research related to the chosen standard as an important input into the PIR. As such, academics with expertise on the selected standard are identified to provide a written summary of the literature, with the objective of making the research more accessible.