FASB looks for disclosures on supplier finance programs

The Financial Accounting Standards Board proposed an accounting standards update on Monday aimed at enhancing the transparency of supplier finance programs.

Stakeholders had noted that there is a lack of transparency in these programs — in which buyers arrange with a third-party financer to give suppliers the option to be paid by the third party prior to an invoice due date, and which are sometimes known as reverse factoring, payables finance, or structured payables arrangements — because GAAP does not require explicit disclosures around them, and because the buyer may present program obligations in various locations in the balance sheet, depending on details of the arrangement.

The proposed Accounting Standards Update would require the buyer to disclose the key terms of the program, and various details for an obligation amount that a buyer has confirmed as valid, including the amount outstanding and where it is presented on the balance sheet.

Among other things, FASB is particularly interested in hearing from stakeholders whether they think this information would be decision-useful, as well as any other disclosures or enhancements they’d like to see.

The board is looking to receive stakeholder comments by March 21, 2022; they can be emailed to director@fasb.org, with File Reference No. 2021-007.