NORWALK, Conn. — The Financial Accounting Standards Board is looking at a Jan. 1, 2009 as the compliance date for its new business combination rule expected to be finalized in the third quarter of this year.

FASB has been in the process of establishing new guidelines for accounting the mergers of nonprofit organizations for years now with deadlines pushed further and further back. Most recently, CUNA Deputy General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Regulatory Advocacy Mary Dunn said FASB is looking at a Jan. 1, 2009 compliance deadline for the change in merger accounting rules from the pooling method to the purchase method.

Credit unions achieved a legislative victory last year in changing the definition of net worth under the Federal Credit Union Act to avoid unintended consequences of this change.

Dunn said she is expecting another draft of the change out in the next several weeks. However, FASB must determine the standard for fair valuing in financial institutions in the meantime; the comment period for this just closed earlier this month. CUNA was for guidelines specific to financial institutions while NAFCU was a bit skeptical, saying that adopting currently available methods are working.

FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board plan to meet in April to discuss the effective date, disclosures, fair value comparisons and other related issues. The boards expect to have final statements out early in the third quarter of 2007.