Sarbanes-Oxley regulatory issues dominated the discussions as accounting executives from AFSA member companies convened for this year's Accounting Committee Forum held September 14-15 in Washington, D.C. Interim committee chair, Mark Davis, assistant controller for financial reporting, DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Americas LLC, led the roundtable discussions on the opening day. The topics included:

• Sarbanes-Oxley Best Practices
• Regulation AB Testing by Auditors
• Recovery Estimates in Allowance for Credit Loss Calculations
• FAS 133
• Interest Rate and Foreign Currency Hedge Accounting
• Evaluation of All Non-GAAP Procedures

The accounting fellows from the Securities & Exchange Commission joined the group for lunch, which was followed by a more formal discussion on various "hot topics" for finance companies, such as an update on Sarbanes-Oxley regulations and compliance issues and accounting valuation for held-for-sale loans. SEC participants included: Tim Kviz, Josh Jones and Joe McGrath, professional accounting fellows, Office of the Chief Accountant; Mark Mahar, associate chief accountant, Office of the Chief Accountant; and Rachael Mincin, associate chief accountant, Division of Corporate Finance.

Michael D. Foley, Partner, KPMG LP, updated the committee and answered questions on a number of accounting issues and concerns focusing on derivative disclosures, accounting for certain hybrid financial instruments and accounting for the servicing of financial assets, among others.

In addition, Matt Gannon, AFSA's director of federal government affairs, provided a government affairs update and discussed AFSA's new Identity Theft Fraud Control Committee.

Peter A. Wilm, director, audit and enterprise risk services, Deloitte & Touche LLP, presented information on allowance for loan loss and SOP 03-3 Accounting for Purchased Loans.

Tony Pelegrin, AFSA's new Vice President & CFO was introduced to the committee. He will serve as the new staff liaison.

Clifford S. Mizialko, Jr., senior vice president, accounting policy, HSBC North America, was elected the new committee chairman, while Jane Carnarvon, vice president of accounting, Ford Motor Credit Company, was elected vice chair.