SUMMARY OF BOARD DECISIONS

Summary of Board decisions are provided for the information and convenience of constituents who want to follow the Board’s deliberations. All of the conclusions reported are tentative and may be changed at future Board meetings. Decisions are included in an Exposure Draft for formal comment only after a formal written ballot. Decisions in an Exposure Draft may be (and often are) changed in redeliberations based on information provided to the Board in comment letters, at public roundtable discussions, and through other communication channels. Decisions become final only after a formal written ballot to issue a final standard.

January 28, 2009 Board Meeting

Financial instruments with characteristics of equity. The Board discussed the classification of puttable and mandatorily redeemable instruments with characteristics of equity. The Board decided to further analyze an approach that would divide such instruments into two categories:

  1. Instruments that are puttable or mandatorily redeemable upon the occurrence of an event that is certain to occur (such as death or retirement)
  2. All other puttable and mandatorily redeemable instruments.

At a future meeting, the Board will discuss classification and possible separation of instruments in each category. One possible outcome would be to classify instruments in category 1 as equity while either classifying instruments in category 2 as liabilities or separating them into liability and equity components.

The Board also discussed the conceptual definitions of a liability and of equity.The Board directed the staff to further develop an approach focused on separating recognition decisions from classification decisions. That approach will entail:

  1. Developing a concept to be used to decide which things qualify for potential recognition
  2. Developing additional standards-level or concepts-level principles for distinguishing between liabilities and equity.

Statement 140 implementation: transfers of financial assets. [The summary of decision will be posted as soon as it is available.]

Reconsideration of Interpretation 46(R). [The summary of decision will be posted as soon as it is available.]