In a time of economic turmoil and crisis of confidence, it should not be surprising that accounting rules are again in the spotlight with accounting standard setters and regulators having been very active as of late. In fact, at last month's annual AICPA Conference on SEC & PCAOB Developments, many speakers came with a similar message for the large gathering of accountants and auditors: during times of stress, management is more prone to resort to aggressive accounting tactics and fraud. While we all know that analyzing companies in this difficult environment requires fine-tuned antennae and an extra dose of healthy skepticism, it is important to remember to be especially cautious around metrics that companies accentuate as measures of their financial health – particularly non-GAAP or newly-introduced metrics that are emphasized to investors but are not subject to rigorous audit procedures. In addition, new proposals are rapidly being rolled out and fast-tracked, and several accounting paradigm shifts are under serious consideration. We expect this rapid pace to continue throughout 2009.

To keep market participants better informed on all the accounting and financial reporting changes in 2009, RiskMetrics will hold a webcast on Wednesday, February 11 at 11 a.m. EST. Dan Mahoney and Jeremy Perler, RiskMetrics Group's co-heads of Accounting Research, will discuss critical accounting and financial reporting hot topics that investors should watch in 2009, including mark-to-market accounting, changes to accounting for off-balance sheet entities, new rules surrounding business combinations, implications of pension accounting, the status of US GAAP convergence with IFRS, proposed changes to revenue recognition standards, and other emerging issues.

To register for the webcast, please visit here. Registrants will also receive a copy of the key takeaways from the report on accounting and financial reporting trends in 2009.