Private Companies Rejoice - VIE Rules are Changing for the Better

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently released one of the most anticipated changes to accounting guidance for variable interest entities (VIE). The change is intended to provide relief to private companies from challenges that have arisen from going through the evaluation and the potential consolidation of these entities, as well as to eliminate diversity in practice in the accounting for and disclosure of involvement with VIEs. This new accounting guidance does not change the existing voting interest model and will continue to require consolidation of an entity that another entity controls.

This guidance permits private entities to make an accounting policy election to forgo consolidation of entities that had complex common control arrangements, which usually resulted in them being a VIE of an entity, despite lack of control in that entity. The expectation is that if an entity makes the policy election, there will be significantly fewer VIEs consolidated by private companies.  

These changes will require significant disclosure about the involvement with VIEs under common control, but are similar to existing related party disclosures and would include elements such as risks, assets and liabilities associated with the involvement in the VIE, guarantees and other significant contractual items.

Private companies have the ability to early-adopt these changes immediately or wait until the fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. When implementing the change, private companies will need to apply this change retrospectively and employ a cumulative adjustment to retained earnings in the earliest period presented.

Private companies, therefore, should start evaluating their VIEs now and decide if they meet the definition of being under common control to determine if they can be deconsolidated or if further analysis is required. Also remember to evaluate the impact of deconsolidating any VIE on the entity’s debt, lease or other significant contractual agreements. Proactive discussions with the users of the entity’s financial statements will help in understanding the reason for the accounting policy change.

While the effort will be quite a bit work in year one, it could greatly simplify an entity’s financial statements on a go-forward basis.

You’ve heard our thoughts… We’d like to hear yours

The Schneider Downs Our Thoughts On blog exists to create a dialogue on issues that are important to organizations and individuals. While we enjoy sharing our ideas and insights, we’re especially interested in what you may have to say. If you have a question or a comment about this article – or any article from the Our Thoughts On blog – we hope you’ll share it with us. After all, a dialogue is an exchange of ideas, and we’d like to hear from you. Email us at [email protected].

Material discussed is meant for informational purposes only, and it is not to be construed as investment, tax, or legal advice. Please note that individual situations can vary. Therefore, this information should be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice.

© 2024 Schneider Downs. All rights-reserved. All content on this site is property of Schneider Downs unless otherwise noted and should not be used without written permission.

our thoughts on
HMDA: Common 2022 Violations and How Community Banks Can Address Them Before the 2023 Filing
Community Reinvestment Act Strengthening: What it means for community banks
What are the OCC’s Key Areas of Focus for Fiscal Year 2024?
The SEC ‘Names Rule’: Unpacking the Impacts to ESG Funds
Protect Your Financial and Insurance Data: 3 Common Cyber Attack Methods to Watch Out for in 2023
Register to receive our weekly newsletter with our most recent columns and insights.
Have a question? Ask us!

We’d love to hear from you. Drop us a note, and we’ll respond to you as quickly as possible.

Ask us
contact us
Pittsburgh

This site uses cookies to ensure that we give you the best user experience. Cookies assist in navigation, analyzing traffic and in our marketing efforts as described in our Privacy Policy.

×