Landmark Revenue Rules Vex Companies but No Major Changes Sought

Landmark accounting rules overhauling how companies record the top line in their income statements have many strengths but a few pitfalls, companies, auditors, and investors told US accounting standard-setters on Friday.

The pro-and-con discussion was part of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s ongoing post-mortem of its sweeping revenue recognition accounting standard to see if, almost a decade after its publication, the rules need any tweaks or clarifications. Publicly traded companies started following the new rules in 2018 and private companies complied in 2021.

Participants in FASB’s five-hour discussion Friday said there’s room for improvement in the standard, but not ...