Accounting for Transfers and Servicing for Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities

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Accounting for Transfers and Servicing for Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities SFAS 140 is a replacement of the FASB’s Statement 125 Accounting for

Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishments of

liabilities. “This statement provides accounting and reporting

standards for accounting transfers and servicing of financial assets

and extinguishments of liabilities. Those standards are based on

consistent application of a financial-components approach that focuses

on control. Under that approach, after a transfer of financial

assets, an entity recognizes the financial and servicing assets it

controls and the liabilities it has incurred, derecognizes financial

assets when control has been surrendered, and derecognizes liabilities

when extinguished.” It is one of a few statements the FASB has

developed that pertain to Special Purpose Entities and how to account

for various transactions related to their use. SFAS 140 sets

guidelines for when a sale of assets must be recognized based on

criteria met by the sponsor company. The statement also requires “an

entity that has securitized financial assets to disclose information

about accounting policies, volume, cash flows, key assumptions made in

determining fair values of retained interest, and sensitivity of those

fair values to changes in key assumptions”. There is no comprehensive

FASB standard on Special Purpose Entity accounting. Most of the

guidelines for this accounting are found in various Emerging Issue

Task Force guidelines. The EITF guidelines are not standards, but

they hav...

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...ased on trustworthy numbers. Enron’s accounting for

its’ stock that was issued to and held by the SPE’s also played a

large part in its “fraud”.

US GAAP, as structured and administered by the SEC, the FASB, and the

AICPA is at least partially responsible for the Enron disaster. Enron

and its outside counsel and auditor felt comfortable in following the

specified accounting requirements for consolidation of SPEs. The SEC

had the responsibility and opportunity to change these rules to

reflect the known fact that corporations were using this vehicle to

keep liabilities off their balance sheets, although the sponsoring

corporations were substantially liable for the SPE’s obligations. The

SEC, FASB and AICPA neglected to do much if anything about the issue

and the SEC should have been accountable for their negligence.

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