NVCA Today

The last quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010 has been busy for the NVCA CFO Task Force (CFOTF) with several emerging issues. Four significant comment letters were filed by the NVCA, each with support from a subgroup of the CFOTF. This group, founded in 2003 with many of the original members still quite active, is now made up of the CFOs of 100 NVCA member firms.

Since inception, several members of the NVCA CFO Task Force have been invited to serve on key national committees of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). This has provided our industry good visibility and access. In recent weeks, the CFO Taskforce have been invited by the US Treasury/IRS, AICPA, FASB, and other key groups to provide additional committee members, commentary, and panelists. Most significant, the NVCA has been asked to nominate a committee member to the Financial Accounting Foundation (FASB’s parent) blue ribbon panel looking at the future of private company financial reporting. This long-overdue effort could have profound impact on the financial burdens faced by our portfolio companies and GPs. We have unprecedented ability to comment and interact formally and informally with regulators who generally know what venture capital is but seldom how the industry works.

The CFOTF now focuses on identifying issues arising from the 2009 audits and commenting on key issues that are becoming active, such as the extent preferred stock must be classified by issuers as debt rather than equity.  The group is also organizing and programming the CFO/General Counsel day at the NVCA Annual Meeting.

We welcome the most recent five new members to this working group and appreciate their interest in getting hands-on involved:

• Taki Sanami of Jafco Ventures
• Mary Bevelock of Globespan Capital
• Bill Funcannon of OVP
• Kevin Gillis of Third Rock Ventures
• David Haynes of FTV Capital
• Susan Haedt of Thomas, McNerney

Contact John Taylor at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information about the NVCA CFO Taskforce.