FASB ISSUES PROPOSED SIMPLIFICATIONS
TO ACCOUNTING FOR NONEMPLOYEE SHARE-BASED PAYMENTS


Norwalk, CT, March 7, 2017—The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today issued a proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) intended to reduce cost and complexity and to improve financial reporting for nonemployee share-based payments. Stakeholders are encouraged to review and provide comments on the proposal by June 5, 2017.

The proposed ASU would expand the scope of Topic 718, Compensation—Stock Compensation, which currently only includes payments to employees, to include payments for goods and services to nonemployees. Consequently, the accounting for share-based payments to nonemployees and employees would be similar. The proposed ASU would supersede Subtopic 505-50, Equity—Equity Based Payments to Non-Employees.

The accounting for nonemployee share-based payment transactions was identified as an area for simplification through: Stakeholders recommended that the FASB improve the accounting for nonemployee share-based payments to reduce cost and complexity, while improving the financial reporting for these transactions.

The FASB will determine an effective date after redeliberating input received during the comment period.

More information about the proposed ASU—including a FASB In Focus overview  —is available at www.fasb.org.