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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

OCC Updates Bank Accounting Guidance

Agency Rule-Making & Guidance OCC Compliance Banking

Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

On August 15, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released the annual update to its long-running Bank Accounting Advisory Series (BAAS). Intended to “promote[] consistent application of accounting standards among OCC-supervised banks and federal savings associations,” the BAAS “represents the OCC’s Office of the Chief Accountant’s interpretations of generally accepted accounting principles and regulatory guidance.” The 2017 edition of the BAAS updates guidance on a range of accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and “includes recent answers to frequently asked questions from the industry and examiners.” Several FAQs are updated or deleted, and new FAQs cover the following topics: investments in debt and equity securities; lessee classification and accounting; and transfers of financial assets and servicing.

This edition of the BAAS also introduces a new approach to recently issued accounting standards. Previous editions covered new accounting standards only after they became effective. But since many FASB Accounting Standard Updates (ASUs) now have different effective dates for public business entities (PBEs) and private companies, this edition also covers ASUs issued through March 31, 2017 that (i) “while not yet effective for all institutions, must be adopted by PBEs beginning in 2018 and may be adopted early by other institutions”; or (ii) “are not yet effective for any institutions but early adoption is allowed.” Accordingly, lavender text boxes include alternative content for both PBEs and early adopters, and gold text boxes include alternative content for early adopters only.