FASB Issues Exposure Draft on Accounting for Hedging Activities

NORWALK, Conn.--(Business Wire)--
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today issued an
Exposure Draft (ED) of a proposed Statement of Financial Accounting
Standards, Accounting for Hedging Activities -- an amendment of FASB
Statement No. 133. The proposed Statement would require application of
the amended hedging requirements for financial statements issued for
fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2009, and interim periods within
those fiscal years.

The purpose of the ED is to obtain feedback from constituents on a
proposed Statement intended to simplify hedge accounting resulting in
increased comparability of financial results for entities that apply
hedge accounting. Specifically, the proposed statement would eliminate
the multiple methods of hedge accounting currently being used for the
same transaction. It also would require an entity to designate all
risks as the hedged risk (with certain exceptions) in the hedged item
or transaction, thus better reflecting the economics of such items and
transactions in the financial statements.

Respondents to the ED are asked to provide input on whether the
statement meets its objectives to simplify accounting for hedging
activities; improve the financial reporting of hedging activities to
make the accounting model and associated disclosures more useful and
easier to understand for users of financial statements; resolve major
practice issues related to hedge accounting that have arisen under
Statement 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging
Activities; and address differences resulting from recognition and
measurement anomalies between the accounting for derivative
instruments and the accounting for hedged items or transactions.

"The proposed statement was developed in response to requests to
address the complexities of hedge accounting and to improve the
usefulness of the hedge accounting results reported in financial
statements," stated Kevin Stoklosa, FASB assistant director of
technical activities. "FASB constituents are encouraged to review the
ED and provide their input on whether the proposed statement does, in
fact, address these requests and meet its objective to improve
financial reporting pertaining to these transactions."

The proposed ED invites individuals and organizations to submit
comments on the proposed guidance. Responses must be received in
writing by August 15, 2008. Interested parties should submit their
comments by email to director@fasb.org, File Reference No. 1590-100.
Those without email may send their comments to the "Technical Director
-- File Reference No. 1590-100" at the address at the Financial
Accounting Standards Board, 401 Merritt 7, PO Box 5116, Norwalk, CT,
06856-5116. Responses should not be sent by fax. All comments received
by the FASB are considered public information. Those comments will be
posted to the FASB website and included as part of the project record
with other project materials.

About the Financial Accounting Standards Board

Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has been the
designated organization in the private sector for establishing
standards of financial accounting and reporting. Those standards
govern the preparation of financial reports and are officially
recognized as authoritative by the Securities and Exchange Commission
and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Such
standards are essential to the efficient functioning of the economy
because investors, creditors, auditors, and others rely on credible,
transparent, and comparable financial information. For more
information about the FASB, visit our website at www.fasb.org.

Financial Accounting Standards Board
Christine Klimek, 203-956-3459

Copyright Business Wire 2008