FASB Proposes Improvements to Guidance on Convertible Instruments and the Derivatives Scope Exception

The FASB has issued a proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU), Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity.

As the FASB’s press release notes, the proposed ASU “would reduce the number of accounting models for convertible debt instruments and convertible preferred stock. It would revise the derivatives scope exception guidance to reduce form-over-substance-based accounting conclusions driven by remote contingent events. The proposed ASU also would improve and amend the related disclosure and earnings-per-share guidance.”

Comments on the proposed ASU are due by October 14, 2019. For more information, see the press release and FASB in Focus newsletter on the FASB’s Web site.