FASB Issues Proposed Changes for 2021 US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued proposed technical and other conforming improvements for the 2021 U.S. GAAP financial reporting taxonomy and the related release notes for public comment. These proposed improvements include element additions related to asset acquisitions, credit losses, debt securities, leases, reorganizations, variable interest entities, and banking regulation disclosures. Elements were deprecated for superseded accounting guidance and to improve consistency and structure for the topical projects related to accounting changes and reorganizations. Standard and documentation labels were modified to clarify elements and improve appropriate usage.

As a result of the finalization of the Extensible Enumerations specification (EE 2.0) by the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) International Standards Board, elements previously referred to as “[Extensible List]” were modified to change the data type and standard labels. The period type for some of these elements were also changed to improve usage.

The FASB is seeking feedback on whether users of the U.S. GAAP financial reporting taxonomy agree with the proposed technical and other conforming improvements for the 2021 U.S. GAAP financial reporting taxonomy and whether additional technical and other conforming improvements are needed. The comment period for the proposed improvements ends on November 2, 2020. Comments should be submitted directly to the FASB. The SEC staff encourages filers, investors, analysts, software service providers, and other interested parties to participate in this public review to continue to improve the process for creating and using XBRL-structured financial statements.

Only annual compilations of the U.S. GAAP financial reporting taxonomy that are specified on the Commission’s website may be used in SEC XBRL submissions. The availability for public comment of the proposed U.S. GAAP financial reporting taxonomy update does not indicate Commission approval of any potential regulatory changes related to the EDGAR Filer Manual. Please refer to the SEC’s EDGAR webpage at https://www.sec.gov/edgar/filer-information/current-edgar-filer-manual for updated information on when the Commission approves changes, if any, related to the EDGAR Filer Manual.