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Off-Balance-Sheet

Consolidation Guidance Tweaked to Scope Out Agents

November 08, 2011

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is brushing up its fairly new rules on consolidations to address concerns that investment managers or others acting as agents for their clients might get caught up in the guidance and treated as if they are owners.

IASB Shines Light on Hidden Liabilities

Neil Baker May 13, 2011

The International Accounting Standards Board has issued three new standards aimed at bringing off-balance sheet activities into the open. Included in the changes is a controversial ruling to abolish proportionate consolidation, one of the methods that companies outside the United States have used to account for joint ventures. Equity accounting will now be mandatory. More details inside.

SEC Shakes Down Banks on Repurchase Accounting

Tammy Whitehouse May 25, 2010

Evidence may soon emerge revealing whether or not Lehman Brothers was an outlier in classifying asset repurchase agreements as sales even when those assets were destined to return to the balance sheet.The Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing information it has received so far from 19 major financial institutions who...

Groups Ask Congress to Leave Accounting Rules Alone

Tammy Whitehouse May 11, 2010

Users of financial statements and the accounting profession are lobbying Capitol Hill once again to keep its political nose out of accounting rulebooks.Seven professional groups sent an appeal to leaders of the U.S. Senate and its Banking Committee to state their objections to an amendment to the Restoring American Financial...

FASB Says Rules Could Change After Lehman Inquiry

Tammy Whitehouse April 21, 2010

The Financial Accounting Standards Board might consider new rules to further curb off-balance-sheet abuses, but first it needs to see the outcome of a Securities and Exchange Commission study.That’s the word from FASB Chairman Robert Herz in a letter to the House Financial Services Committee as it explores public policy...

Ernst Confirms Client Letter to Address Lehman Accounting

Tammy Whitehouse April 03, 2010

Ernst & Young has verified that a letter circulating on the internet is one the firm sent to select clients to quell concerns that may be brewing about the firm’s role in auditing the failed Lehman Brothers as it crumbled into bankruptcy.“Yes, this is a letter we sent to some...

Lehman Examiner Alleges Misleading Accounting

Tammy Whitehouse March 12, 2010

The Lehman Brothers autopsy is unfolding in full spectacle fashion as Wall Street pores over the sordid details of bad mortgage holdings and some aggressive off-balance-sheet maneuvers—all described in a 2,200-page bankruptcy examiner’s report released late yesterday.Examiner Anton Valukus, chairman of Jenner & Block, published nine volumes alleging Lehman management...

FASB Finalizes Plan for Targeted FAS 167 Deferral

Tammy Whitehouse January 29, 2010

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has decided to go ahead with a proposed deferral for certain elements of its new consolidation requirements. The final Accounting Standards Update is being drafted by FASB staff and is expected to be published in mid-February.At a regular weekly meeting, the Board reviewed comments to...

FASB Codifies New Rules on Off-Balance-Sheet Vehicles

Tammy Whitehouse January 06, 2010

More than six months after adopting new standards governing off-balance-sheet activity and consolidation of variable interest entities, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has at last added them to the Accounting Standards Codification, making them officially part of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.FASB adopted Financial Accounting Standard No. 166: Accounting for...

Congress Wants Study on How Rules Will Affect Credit

Tammy Whitehouse November 20, 2009

Congress is openly fretting over how new off-balance sheet accounting rules might affect securitization and the availability of credit, with the House Financial Services Committee agreeing in concept to require a study of the matter.Republican Congressman Scott Garrett of New Jersey proposed yet another amendment to the mushrooming Financial Stability...

PwC Offers Tips, Timeline to Comply With FAS 167

Tammy Whitehouse October 13, 2009

For companies wondering where to begin to inventory interests in other business units and comply with new ways to account for them, a Big 4 firm guide may be helpful.To correct widespread problems with off-balance sheet accounting, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has finalized new rules for how companies must...

FASB Finalizes Plans to Amend Off-Balance Sheet Rules

Tammy Whitehouse May 20, 2009

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has finalized its plans to rework off-balance-sheet accounting with revised rules expected to be published in June to take effect for the 2010 reporting year.Under the amended Financial Accounting Standard No. 140, Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities, entities...

FASB Promises Off-Balance-Sheet Disclosures for 2008

Tammy Whitehouse December 02, 2008

Despite whatever back-office work may still remain unfinished, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has promised its guidance requiring new disclosures around off-balance-sheet activity will be finalized by Dec. 15 so that it can be effective at the same time it is issued.FASB is putting the finishing touches on FASB Staff...

FASB Stands Firm on 2008 Off-Balance-Sheet Disclosures

Tammy Whitehouse November 13, 2008

Despite calls for more time, the Financial Accounting Standards Board will proceed with planned disclosure requirements around off-balance-sheet activity to take effect for fiscal periods ending after Dec. 15, 2008. That means calendar-year companies will be expected to begin making the new disclosures in their 2008 financial statements.FASB determined at...

Herz Implores “Golden Rule” to Fix Market Woes

Tammy Whitehouse September 23, 2008

No doubt Bob Herz, chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, left a few folks squirming in their seats with his frank assessment of how the markets managed to arrive—again—at a state of crisis. At a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers conference, Herz pulled no punches in describing how market players seem to...

FASB: Revisions to SPE Accounting Coming Sept. 15

Tammy Whitehouse September 04, 2008

If you're chomping at the bit to review and comment on the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s plans to revised off-balance-sheet accounting, mark Sept. 15 on your calendar. That’s the date FASB has signaled it will publish three separate exposure drafts to overhaul off-balance-sheet reporting of special interest entities.Specifically, FASB said...

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