FASB Votes to Defer Effective Date of Leases Standard (ASC 842) and Other Accounting Relief

FASB recently announced plans to provide accounting relief and clarity during the COVID-19 crisis.  The announced measures include:

  • A proposal to provide private companies and certain not-for-profit organizations with an optional, one-year effective date delay of the leases standard. Affected entities may delay adopting the lease standard until fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021.
  • A project to investigate opportunities to provide revenue recognition implementation expedients to franchisors. While that project is ongoing, private company franchisors will be allowed a one-year deferral of the revenue recognition standard.

Access the FASB staff’s question-and-answer document, which aims to help stakeholders account for the rapid, unprecedented concessions lessors are providing tenants during the pandemic and whether these are required to be accounted for in accordance with lease modification guidance in ASC 842 and ASC 840.

Implementation questions being addressed by staff related to other crisis-related issues  include interest income and loan payment holidays, derivatives and hedging, and fair value accounting.  For more detailed information please see the Board’s tentative decisions.

FASB also announced a temporary suspension on issuing other public exposure documents and deferring work that requires public outreach on other technical agenda projects to focus on supporting stakeholders as they navigate the impact of the crisis.

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