Top 10 Accounting Headlines from All Regions The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a long-awaited decision that many practitioners had hoped would provide insight into the permissible breadth of third-party releases and injunctions often contained in confirmed chapter 11 plans. A proposed change to lease accounting rules appears to be gaining traction and could have a large impact on both the debt reported on a company's balance sheet and its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). The SEC recently issued for comment a proposed roadmap forinitially allowing and eventually requiring U.S. issuers to reportfinancial results in accordance with International FinancialReporting Standards ("IFRS") as issued by theInternational Accounting Standards Board ("IASB") ratherthan generally accepted accounting principles in the United States("U.S. GAAP"). In a recent ruling from the bench, Judge James M. Peck of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that Metavante Corporation’s suspension of payments under an outstanding swap agreement with Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc. (“LBSF”) was not safe harbored, and instead violated the automatic stay of section 362(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a long-awaited decision that many practitioners had hoped would provide insight into the permissible breadth of third-party releases and injunctions often contained in confirmed chapter 11 plans. Economic conditions over the past year have forced an increasing number of companies to file for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In R (on the application of Prudential plc and another) v Special Commissioner of Income Tax and another an English court has held that legal advice privilege does not extend to cover advice about law (e.g. tax law) given by accountants. When Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008, Lehman (directly and through its subsidiaries and affiliates) was party to more than 900,000 derivative contracts. Neither trademark practitioners nor trademark owners or users can afford to operate without deference to bankruptcy law principles. Almost by definition the experienced offshore practitioner has to be proficient (if not always an expert) in all manner of legal, accounting, taxation, regulatory and general business matters. That is to say nothing of being a mentor, confidante and occasional psychologist to one’s clients. | 
