The FASB issued Proposed FASB Staff Position (FSP) No. FAS 144-d, Amending the Criteria for Reporting a Discontinued Operation, on September 25, 2008.

The proposal would alter the definition of a discontinued operation and establish revised disclosure requirements for the parts of an entity that have been disposed of or are up for sale. The FASB will accept comments on the proposal until January 23, 2009.

Proposed FSP No. FAS 144-d was issued on the same day as the IASB released an Exposure Draft (ED) on IFRS 5, Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations. The proposals are part of a Convergence Project by the FASB and the IASB and were issued to lead to a common definition for a discontinued operation under U.S. GAAP and IFRS. The converged guidance would also establish when the income effects of a component of an entity would be reported in the discontinued operations section of the income statement.

The FASB?s Proposed FSP would amend the disclosure requirements in SFAS No. 144, Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets, for all qualifying components of an entity regardless of whether they are reported in the income statement as a discontinued operation or within continuing operations.