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The article presents developments on accounting in the U.S. in 2018. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued 21 Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) to its Accounting Standards Codification during the year. The FASB launched a standard addressing the concerns of stakeholders about the costs and complexity of complying with the transition provisions of its lease requirements.

In 2014, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws approved a set of amendments to the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act. Among other changes, the amendments renamed the act the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act. In this paper, the reporter for the committee that drafted the amendments describes the amendment project and discusses the changes that were made to the act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Codification of the economic substance doctrine in 2010 ushered in a new phase in the debate regarding the meaning and reach of the doctrine. The main statutory hint as to the intended scope of the codified economic substance doctrine is ambiguous, providing, "The determination of whether the economic substance doctrine is relevant to a transaction shall be made in the same manner as if this subsection had never been enacted." This Article argues that this language should be read in light of the codification history, which stretches back for over ten years before enactment. This history suggests that the relevance provision is primarily about maintaining the precodification balance of decision making between tax agencies and courts. The history also indicates that the provision reflects congressional concurrence in the precodification trajectory of the doctrine, particularly in terms of the types of transactions that were being litigated. The movement from the common law to codified statute brought with it the potential application of a complex web of authority regarding interactions between tax agencies and courts in their administration, enforcement, and interpretation of the Code. Included in that web is the general ability of the tax agencies to obtain strong deference from the courts as to the agencies' authoritative, reasonable interpretations of textual ambiguities. The economic substance legislative history acknowledges the general interpretive authority of the tax agencies but does not suggest a specific path for reconciling that authority with the requirement that development of the doctrine continue "in the same manner" as under the common law. This Article proposes that the various strands in the legislative history can be reconciled by interpreting the relevance provision as adding two directions to tax agencies and courts: (1) the statute does not apply to transactions that are clearly consistent with the form and purpose of claimed tax benefits and (2) the courts have final discretion over whether a specific, litigated transaction ultimately fails the requirements of the economic substance doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the idea of debt-equity swaps in the United States. Codification of the common law equity-for-debt exception; Application of the Exchange Agreement; Use of the common law equity-for-debt exception by corporate debtors in financial difficulty.

Focuses on the international and domestic codification of commercial law in the United States. Significance of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law to commercial law codification; Revision of the domestic Uniform Commercial Code; Purpose of commercial codification.

Responses to the article 'Codified Standard--Safe Harbor or Uncharted Reef?' by E. Norman Veasey and William E. Manning published in the April 1980 issue of 'The Business Lawyer' journal. Rejection of the section 35 of the 'Model Business Corporation Act'; Responsibility of the fiduciary for corporate losses; Role of corporate lawyer and investment bankers as nonmanagement directors.

Comments on articles concerning the law in the U.S., featured in the January 1977 issue of the 'American Bar Association Journal.' Flaws in the arguments concerning prudence and trust investment law; Oppositions on S. 1, a bill to codify, revise and reform the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure; Experiences with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps.