Description
After 30 years of Regulation S-X and FASB 69, the SEC finally agreed that change to reserves definitions for financial disclosures was warranted. With the capable guidance of the Academic Fellow, Dr. W. John Lee of Texas A&M University, the SEC issued sweeping changes to the reserves definitions and disclosure rules in December 2008. The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued its exposure draft (“Extractive Industries – Oil and Gas (Topic 932)) on September 15, 2009, supporting the changes implemented by the SEC. The new definitions do not restrict reporting to only proved reserves and, in some cases, require much more detailed disclosure of oil and gas volume and reserves information. Stuart Filler will discuss the major changes and the possible impacts as these new definitions are implemented for the year end 2009 financial disclosures.