Financial Instruments: A Comprehensive Guide to Accounting & Reporting (2021)

Financial Instruments is a comprehensive reference manual of generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP) in the United States about financial instruments. A financial instrument is cash, an ownership interest in another entity (such as common stock), or a contract that conveys an obligation and a corresponding right to require delivery of (or exchange) a financial instrument(s). The right may be contingent (such as an option) or unconditional (such as a loan). A financial instrument is ultimately convertible to cash (or stock) and does not involve the delivery of goods or services.

This product includes guidance originally issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the FASB's Emerging Issues Task Force and Derivatives Implementation Group (DIG). It also includes accounting guidance issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), including standards issued by the Accounting Standards Executive Committee (AcSEC), and the audit and accounting guides issued by various committees of the AICPA. It covers accounting requirements for public and private companies and touches on unique aspects of reporting financial instruments by nonprofit organizations. Financial Instruments does not cover certain transactions that are technically financial instruments, but that are accounted for under specialized accounting models, including stock compensation and other forms of employee benefits (from the issuer's perspective), most leasing transactions, and insurance contracts. This product does not address the equity method of accounting (for investments that convey significant influence over the investee), consolidation of operating entities (for investments that convey control over the investee), or business combinations. Wolters Kluwer’s GAAP Guide addresses all of those subjects in detail. However, this product does address consolidation of special-purpose entities that are used to securitize financial assets. This product does not discuss in detail the specialized accounting models used by pension plans, brokers and dealers in securities, and investment companies whereby substantially all of their assets (and certain liabilities) are carried at fair value. This product refers to positions of the SEC staff (and other guidance published by the SEC) when it interprets or elaborates on a financial reporting requirement originally established by the FASB or AICPA. This product does not represent a comprehensive guide to SEC reporting requirements, even for financial instruments.

This product contains cross-references to the Accounting Standards Codification so that readers can carefully review the full text and other relevant material. In certain instances, references to the Codification are not included (e.g., tentative guidance, effective date and transition guidance for standards that are already fully effective, standards that are superseded, content from the basis for conclusions of accounting pronouncements). In addition, this product contains references to sources that are outside the scope of the Codification, including FASB Concepts Statements, auditing standards, rulings of the Internal Revenue Service, and regulatory principles developed by the federal banking agencies and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Those references are intended to provide context and depth to the discussion of the topic being discussed. However, any accounting literature not included in the Codification is considered nonauthoritative.

This product also includes a high-level discussion of the relevant International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for financial instruments covered in each chapter. “IFRSs” consist of pronouncements issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and standards and interpretations issued and approved by the IASB's predecessor Board, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC).