Products February 19, 2009

Northern Trust Enhances FAS 157 Toolkit

February 19, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Northern Trust has announced additions to its "FAS 157 toolkit" to make it easier for clients to fulfill reporting requirements for securities under the new fair value measurement standard.

Reported by

Rebecca Moore

According to the announcement, Level Determination Reports provide proposed levels for classifying securities according to FAS 157 guidelines and supply information on how prices are derived for the securities.

Northern Trust’s reports allow clients to view proposed FAS 157 levels by security across all holdings and at summary levels across client portfolios. Clients can authorize Northern Trust to override levels based on their own due diligence. The overridden levels will be available for additional reporting through Northern Trust.

These templates eliminate data manipulation and consolidation tasks, resulting in time and cost savings for Northern Trust clients, the announcement said.

The “FAS 157 toolkit” was introduced in 2008 and provides assistance in implementing the reporting requirements of FAS 157, Fair Value Measurements, recommended by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (see Northern Trust Helps Clients with Fair Value Measurements ).

The FASB just announced it has kicked off two projects aimed at beefing up its guidance on fair value measurement and disclosure (see FASB Kicks Off Fair Value Study ).