At its board meeting earlier this week, the Financial Accounting Standards Board discussed improving existing guidance in FASB’s Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) pertaining to how not-for-profits recognize revenue. Specifically, the FASB board decided to clarify crucial guidance in ASC Subtopic 958-605, Not-for-Profit Entities – Revenue Recognition, regarding distinguishing between conditional and unconditional contributions.

Donor-imposed conditions

The FASB decided that the definition of a donor-imposed condition would include the following:

• A right of return, entailing either a return of assets transferred or a release of a promisor from its obligation to transfer assets, and
• A barrier that must be overcome before the recipient is entitled to the assets transferred or promised.
  • A barrier would be described through the use of indicators and illustrative examples.

Diversity in practice

The FASB’s project to update revenue recognition guidance for not-for-profit entities was added to the board’s agenda in April, 2016 following input from various stakeholders, including FASB’s Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee [NAC], the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants [AICPA] Expert Panels, and others, noting practicality issues and diversity in practice in two areas:

1. Characterizing grants and similar contracts with government agencies and others as (i) reciprocal transactions (exchanges) or (ii) nonreciprocal transactions (contributions)
2. Distinguishing between conditional and unconditional contributions.

Further information on this project and the most recent meeting can be found in FASB’s:

• Summary of Board Decisions: February 22 meeting
• Board handout – February 22 meeting (pdf pages 17-20)
• Project summary – Revenue recognition of grants and contracts by Not-for-profit entities

Government and Not-for-Profit Conference

Learn more about FASB’s project to update revenue recognition for not-for-profits when FASB’s Assistant Director, Non-public entities, Jeff Mechanick, speaks at the MACPA’s popular Government and Not-for-Profit conference, slated to take place on April 28 at the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Hyattsville, MD.

The keynote address at the Government and Not-for-Profit Conference will be given by Dr. Brett Baker, CPA, Assistant Inspector General for Audit Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of the Inspector General. Dr. Baker will share insights and perspectives on oversight topics the OIG community is paying attention to, including the Presidential transition, IG Empowerment Act, enterprise risk management and internal controls, data analytics, information technology security, and financial statement audit.

Other speakers are leading experts from audit firms as well as speakers from the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the non-partisan Project on Government Oversight (POGO), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), and more!

Read the full agenda and register for the Government and Not-for-Profit Conference.