Not exactly. On December 10, 2010, the blue ribbon panel created to provide recommendations on the future of U.S. accounting standards for private companies released a more detailed outline of what their recommendations will be when they present a report to the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) in January, 2011. The recommendations will include the creation of a new standard-setting board for private companies made up of five to seven members with private company financial reporting experience with the mission "to establish exceptions and modifications to U.S. GAAP for private companies, while ensuring that such exceptions and modifications provide decision-useful information to lenders and other users of private company financial reports. That mission is accomplished through a comprehensive and independent process that encourages broad participation, objectively considers all stakeholder views, and is subject to oversight by the FAF's Board of Trustees ".  This proposal stops short of recommending that the new board issue completely new standards for private companies.

I believe it would be safe to say that most private company CFOs would agree that they need relief from the increasingly complex and costly U.S accounting standards that tend to focus more and more on the needs of financial analysts following public companies as opposed to the primary users of private company financial statements: banks and creditors. Standards that give private companies fits include FIN 48 (uncertainity in income taxes) and FIN 46R (consolidation of variable interest entities). Other areas include disclosure overload and fair value measurements of assets and liabilities. All this leads to private companies often issuing GAAP exceptions with audit opinions which results in confusion and dissatisfaction on the part of the financial statement users (again, primarily banks and creditors) for whom the financial statements are prepared.  Some would argue that a completely separate private company version of GAAP would be more appropriate such as the recently released 230-page International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for small and medium entities (SMEs). With the pending convergence of U.S.  and international GAAP, this set of rules could possibly become the standard for private companies in the U.S., thus rendering this whole conversation moot.

In the meantime, the blue ribbon panel suggests that the FASB start to work on a broad set of  criteria that differentiates private companies from public companies. Panel members believe that this framework would be the basis for making appropriate modifications and exceptions for private companies. The panel's recommendations will be deliberated by the FAF and their decision will be exposed to the public for comment. Coupled with the time it will take to establish a new board, don't expect any possible implementation before late 2011 or early 2012.