Highlights of the FASB’s January 23 Meeting

The Board discussed the scope and transition guidance for a proposed ASU that would allow entities, upon adopting ASC 326, Financial Instruments — Credit Losses, to irrevocably elect the fair value option for certain financial assets and tentatively decided to “exclude debt securities classified as held-to-maturity from the scope.” The Board directed its staff to begin drafting a proposed ASU for a vote by written ballot.

The Board continued redeliberating its July 2016 proposed ASU, Disclosure Framework — Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Income Taxes, and tentatively decided that an entity would not be required to disclose either of the following:

• The “amount of the transition tax liability resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the line item in the statement of financial position in which the liability is presented.”
• A “description of a legally enforceable agreement with a government, including the duration of the agreement, the commitments made with the government under that agreement, and the amount of benefit that reduces or may reduce its income tax burden.”

The Board continued redeliberating its January 2017 proposed ASU, Simplifying the Classification of Debt in a Classified Balance Sheet (Current Versus Noncurrent), and discussed whether contractual linkage between certain debt arrangements and unused long-term financing arrangements in place as of the balance sheet date should affect classification.