The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued one revised and two new exposure drafts last week to amend and clarify an earlier FASB statement, together aimed at shoring up loopholes enabling questionable off-balance-sheet accounting and further advancing fair value accounting.
In its first measure—a revised exposure draft, Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets—FASB elaborates on when it is appropriate to use a qualifying special-purpose entity to take financial assets off the balance sheet. It also aims to assure that control over financial assets transfers along with the assets themselves, a key characteristic of clean SPE accounting.
