NEWS RELEASE 04/30/02

FASB Issues Financial Accounting Statement No. 145

Norwalk, CT, April 30, 2002—Today the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Statement No. 145, Rescission of FASB Statements No. 4, 44, and 64, Amendment of FASB Statement No. 13, and Technical Corrections. The Statement updates, clarifies and simplifies existing accounting pronouncements.

 

The Board added this project to its agenda last August in response to constituent requests to revisit the accounting for gains and losses from the extinguishment of debt. “This was particularly important to those operating in the secondary lending market because the use of debt extinguishment is a part of their day-to-day risk management activities and Statement 4, issued in 1975, no longer addressed the needs of a changed marketplace,” commented Cathy Coburn, Project Research Associate.

 

Statement 145 rescinds Statement 4, which required all gains and losses from extinguishment of debt to be aggregated and, if material, classified as an extraordinary item, net of related income tax effect. As a result, the criteria in Opinion 30 will now be used to classify those gains and losses. Statement 64 amended Statement 4, and is no longer necessary because Statement 4 has been rescinded.

 

Statement 44 was issued to establish accounting requirements for the effects of transition to the provisions of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. Because the transition has been completed, Statement 44 is no longer necessary.

 

Statement 145 amends Statement 13 to require that certain lease modifications that have economic effects similar to sale-leaseback transactions be accounted for in the same manner as sale-leaseback transactions. This amendment is consistent with the FASB’s goal of requiring similar accounting treatment for transactions that have similar economic effects.

 

This Statement also makes technical corrections to existing pronouncements. While those corrections are not substantive in nature, in some instances, they may change accounting practice.

 

Statement 145 may be ordered from the FASB website at www.fasb.org or by telephoning the FASB’s Order Department at 800-748-0659.

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.

 

The Financial Accounting Standards Board

Serving the investing public through transparent information resulting from high-quality financial reporting standards, developed in an independent, private-sector, open due process.