MEDIA ADVISORY 09/03/08

Update: Forthcoming Issuance of Exposure Drafts to Amend Statement 140 and Interpretation 46(R)

Norwalk, CT, September 3, 2008—The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has announced that it expects to issue three separate but related Exposure Drafts on or around September 15, 2008, for public comment.

The exposure documents will address proposed amendments to:

  • Statement No. 140, Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities, and
  • FASB Interpretation No. 46 (revised December 2003), Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities.

Also to be issued as an Exposure Draft is a proposed FASB Staff Position No. 140-e and FIN 46 (R)-e on Disclosures about Transfers of Financial Assets and Interests in Variable Interest Entities.

The proposed Statement to amend Statement 140, would, among other things, remove the concept of a qualifying special-purpose entity (SPE) and would remove the exception from applying Interpretation 46(R) to qualifying special-purpose entities (SPEs).

The proposed Statement to amend Interpretation 46(R) would amend the guidance for determining whether an enterprise must consolidate a SPE, including those previously considered qualifying SPEs.

In addition, both proposed Statements would require additional enhanced disclosures.

The FASB Staff Position amends Statement 140 to require public entities to provide additional disclosures about transfers of financial assets and also amends Interpretation 46(R) to require public enterprises to provide additional disclosures about their involvement with variable interest entities. The purpose of this FASB Staff Position is to promptly improve disclosures by public entities and enterprises until the pending amendments to Statement 140 and Interpretation 46(R) are effective.

Complete details, including information about how to submit comments on the proposed guidance, will be available in the forthcoming documents.


About the Financial Accounting Standards Board

Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has been the designated organization in the private sector for establishing standards of financial accounting and reporting. Those standards govern the preparation of financial reports and are officially recognized as authoritative by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Such standards are essential to the efficient functioning of the economy because investors, creditors, auditors, and others rely on credible, transparent, and comparable financial information. For more information about the FASB, visit our website at www.fasb.org.