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, August 19, 2020 FASB Board Meeting
Codification improvements—receivables—nonrefundable fees and other costs (Subtopic 310-20): premium amortization on purchased callable debt securities. The Board discussed a clarification related to Subtopic 310-20, Receivables—Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs.
The Board affirmed its prior decision that an entity should reevaluate whether a callable debt security is within the scope of paragraph 310-20-35-33 for each reporting period, consistent with its intent when it issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2017-08, Receivables—Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20): Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities.
Transition and Effective Date
The Board decided that:
- The amendments will be effective for public business entities for annual and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2020.
- The amendments will be effective for all other entities for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2021, and interim periods within annual periods beginning after December 15, 2022. Early application would be permitted as early as January 1, 2021, for annual and interim reporting periods.
The Board decided that the amendments should be applied prospectively for both new and existing instruments. Under a prospective transition for existing instruments, there would be no cumulative adjustment to retained earnings. Rather, an entity would adjust the premium amortization in future periods, if necessary, to correctly apply the amendments.
Analysis of Costs and Benefits
The Board concluded that it has received sufficient information and analysis to make an informed decision on the perceived costs of the changes and that the expected benefits would justify the expected costs of the amendments in the final Update.
Next Steps
The Board directed the staff to draft a final Accounting Standards Update for vote by written ballot.
Disclosure framework: disclosures—interim reporting. The Board discussed what changes should be made to the disclosure requirements for interim reporting. The Board decided to:
- Add a principle to Topic 270, Interim Reporting, that requires disclosures for significant events or transactions that have material effects on an entity. This addition is related to changes to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulation S-X, Rule No. 10-01, Interim Financial Statements. The principle would result in disclosures that are transaction or event specific.
- Clarify that the disclosure requirements in Topic 270 are subject to a materiality assessment that includes considering the financial statements of the previous annual period.
- Add guidance to Topic 270 stating that the Topic contains a complete listing of interim disclosure requirements.
- Add links to Topic 270 for interim disclosure requirements that are currently included in other Topics.
- Revise phrasing such as for all periods presented to clarify that such phrasing requires comparative disclosure consistent with periods on the face of the financial statements and does not require interim disclosure.
Next Steps
The staff will prepare an analysis of whether the Board should remove disclosure requirements from Topic 270 on the basis of the catch-all principle.