The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has published Proposed Improvements for Proposed Accounting Standards Update – Codification Improvements for public comment. The standard release notes are also included for review. The proposed improvement includes adding references for certain existing elements as well as adding elements for new accounting pronouncement disclosures.
This update is one of the proposed updates to the US GAAP financial reporting taxonomy released throughout the year as changes to the FASB accounting standards occur. Once the public comment period has ended, the updates are included in the Development Taxonomy for a future annual update, as dictated by the relevant accounting standard’s compliance date. The annual US GAAP reporting taxonomy is published in the last quarter of each year, and it is a compilation of taxonomy updates released throughout the year. Though each individual update has its own comment period, the annual GAAP taxonomy has no public comment period for Accounting Standard Update changes.
The proposed amendments to the Accounting Standards Codification are as follows:
| Codification Topic |
|
Nature of Amendment |
Master Glossary – Terms Amended:
Financial Instrument, Obligation, Readily Convertible to Cash, Transfer (Definition 2)
|
|
Simplification and conforming |
Master Glossary – Terms Deleted:
Expected Losses and Expected Residual Returns, Transaction, Transfer (Definition 1), Cash Balance Plan |
|
Simplification and conforming |
| Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (Topic 105) |
|
Transition Guidance |
| Presentation of Financial Statements (Topic 205) |
|
Clarification |
| Income Statement – Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220) |
|
Clarification |
| Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230) |
|
Clarification |
| Accounting Changes and Error Corrections (Topic 250) |
|
Clarification |
| Earnings Per Share (Topic 260) |
|
Clarification |
| Interim Reporting (Topic 270) |
|
Improvement and clarification |
| Receivables (Topic 310) |
|
Clarification |
| Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326) |
|
Clarification |
| Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350) |
|
Simplification |
| Asset Retirement and Environmental Obligations (Topic 410) |
|
Simplification and conforming |
| Exit or Disposal Cost Obligations (Topic 420) |
|
Simplification and conforming |
| Guarantees (Topic 460) |
|
Conforming |
| Debt (Topic 470) |
|
Clarification |
| Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (Topic 480) |
|
Simplification |
| Compensation – Retirement Benefits (Topic 715) |
|
Simplification and conforming |
| Income Taxes (Topic 740) |
|
Conforming |
| Business Combinations (Topic 805) |
|
Simplification and conforming |
| Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815) |
|
Simplification |
| Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820) |
|
Clarification |
| Financial Instruments (Topic 825) |
|
Clarification |
| Foreign Currency Matters (Topic 830) |
|
Clarification |
| Interest (Topic 835) |
|
Clarification |
| Leases (Topic 840) |
|
Conforming |
| Nonmonetary Transactions (Topic 845) |
|
Simplification |
| Reorganizations (Topic 852) |
|
Clarification |
| Transfers and Servicing (Topic 860) |
|
Simplification |
| Financial Services – Depository and Lending (Topic 942) |
|
Clarification |
| Financial Services – Investment Companies (Topic 946) |
|
Simplification and clarification |
| Health Care Entities (Topic 954) |
|
Simplification |
| Not-for-Profit Entities (Topic 958) |
|
Clarification and conforming |
| Plan Accounting – Health and Welfare Benefit Plans (Topic 965) |
|
Clarification |
| Real Estate – General (Topic 970) |
|
Clarification |
The SEC encourages filers, investors, analysts, software providers, and other interested parties to engage in the public review. As always, participation from the sector improves the process for creating and using XBRL structured financial statements.
Filers should note that only annual compilations of the US GAAP financial reporting that are specified on the SEC’s website are permissible for use in SEC XBRL submissions. The availability of the public comment period for this update does not indicate that the SEC approves of any potential regulatory changes related to the EDGAR Filer Manual.
The public comment period will end on December 26th, 2019. Interested parties may submit comments in one of three ways:
- Using the electronic feedback form available on the FASB website at Exposure Documents Open for Comment
- Emailing comments to director@fasb.org, File Reference No. 2019-800
- Sending a letter to “Technical Director, File Reference No. 2019-800, FASB, 401 Merritt 7, PO Box 5116, Norwalk, CT 06856-5116.”
All comments received are part of the FASB’s public file and are available at www.fasb.org. The taxonomy version will be determined per the effective date of the final Accounting Standards Update.
Sources:
Proposed Update to Future U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy—Codification Improvements (www.sec.gov)
Proposed Accounting Standards Update: Codification Improvements (www.fasb.org)
Proposed Taxonomy Improvements for Proposed Accounting Standards Update—Codification Improvements: Release Notes (www.fasb.org)
