NEWS RELEASE 06/24/09

FASB Issues Exposure Draft on Disclosures about the Credit Quality of Financing Receivables and the Allowance for Credit Losses

Norwalk, CT, June 24, 2009—The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today issued an Exposure Draft (ED) of a proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, Disclosures about the Credit Quality of Financing Receivables and the Allowance for Credit Losses. The proposed Statement would be effective beginning with the first interim or annual reporting period ending after December 15, 2009, with early application encouraged.

The ED seeks feedback from constituents on a proposed Statement intended to improve the transparency of financial reporting by requiring enhanced disclosures about an entity’s allowance for credit losses as well as the credit quality of an entity’s financing receivables. Respondents are asked to comment on whether they believe the proposed Statement would achieve its goal of providing more information regardingthe nature of credit risk inherent in the creditor’s portfolio of financing receivables; how that risk is analyzed and assessed in arriving at the allowance for credit losses; and the changes, and reasons for the changes, in both the receivables and the allowance for credit losses. 

Individuals and organizations are invited to submit comments on the proposed guidance.   Responses must be received in writing by August 24, 2009.   Interested parties should submit their comments by email to director@fasb.org, File Reference No. 1700-100.   Those without email may send their comments to the “Technical Director—File Reference No. 1700-100” at the address at the top of this page.   Responses should not be sent by fax.  

Interested parties should submit their comments by email to director@fasb.org.   All comments received by the FASB are considered public information.   Those comments will be posted to the FASB website and included as part of the project record with other project materials.
 

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.