Device company mergers

Ruling Feb. 24 by the Federal Accounting Standards Board may slow down the pace of future consolidation, as acquiring firms will no longer be able to write off the cost of in-process research and development immediately. Under the new standard, all acquired in-process R&D "should be recognized as an asset and amortized over its useful economic life," FASB says. The policy is more broadly directed at goodwill and other purchased intangibles and addresses concerns that acquiring companies may essentially have been overstating earnings