Tentative Board Decisions
Tentative Board decisions are provided for those interested in
following the Board's deliberations. All of the reported decisions are
tentative and may be changed at future Board meetings.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016 FASB Board Meeting
Financial statements of not-for-profit entities. The Board continued its Phase 1 redeliberations on the proposed Accounting Standards Update, Not-for-Profit
Entities (Topic 958) and Health Care Entities (Topic 954): Presentation
of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities, focusing on the following topics:
- Disclosures about operating measures by those not-for-profit entities (NFPs) that choose to present such a measure
- Information useful in assessing liquidity and availability of resources.
Disclosures about Operating Measures by those NFPs That Choose to Present Such a Measure
The Board decided to enhance the current reporting requirements for
those NFPs that present a self-defined operating measure in a statement
of activities (or changes in net assets) that also presents internal
board designations, appropriations, and similar actions on the face of
the financial statements affecting that measure. Those NFPs would be
required to report these types of internal transfers appropriately
disaggregated and described by type, either on the face of the financial
statements or in the notes. The Board directed the staff to include in
the final Accounting Standards Update examples illustrating different
ways entities might report such information.
Information Useful in Assessing Liquidity and Availability of Resources
The Board decided to modify the proposal to clarify the objectives of
providing information useful in assessing an NFP's liquidity and the
type of information that financial statements are capable of providing
for that purpose. The Board decided to require NFPs to provide:
- Qualitative information in the notes that communicates how an
NFP manages its liquid resources available to meet cash needs for
general expenditures within one year of the balance sheet date
- Quantitative information either on the face of the balance sheet
or in the notes, and additional qualitative information in the notes as
necessary, that communicates the availability of an NFP's financial
assets at the balance sheet date to meet cash needs for general
expenditures within one year of the balance sheet date. Availability of a
financial asset may be affected by (a) its nature, (b) external limits
imposed by donors, laws, and contracts with others, and (c) internal
limits imposed by governing board decisions.
The Board directed the staff to include in the final Accounting
Standards Update examples illustrating different ways entities might
report such information.
Disclosure framework: entity's decision process. The Board discussed a summary of comments received on the proposed Accounting Standards Update, Notes to Financial Statements (Topic 235): Assessing Whether Disclosures Are Material, and the proposed amendments to FASB Concepts Statement, Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting: Chapter 3—Qualitative Characteristics of Useful Financial Information. The Board also discussed next steps for the project.
The Board made no technical decisions.