SEC updates interpretive guidance on revenue recognition
Aug 21, 2017
The SEC has issued the following two releases to update its interpretive guidance on revenue recognition: “Commission Guidance Regarding Revenue Recognition for Bill-and-Hold Arrangements” and “Updates to Commission Guidance Regarding Accounting for Sales of Vaccines and Bioterror Countermeasures to the Federal Government for Placement into the Pediatric Vaccine Stockpile or the Strategic National Stockpile.” In addition, the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant and its Division of Corporation Finance have issued Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 116.
The bill-and-hold interpretive release states that upon their adoption of the FASB’s guidance on revenue recognition (ASC 606), “registrants should no longer rely on the guidance in Securities Exchange Act Release No. 23507 and Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 108, In the Matter of Stewart Parness, which set forth the criteria to be met in order to recognize revenue when delivery has not occurred.”
The vaccines and bioterror interpretative release and SAB 116 conform existing SEC guidance with ASC 606.
For more information, see Deloitte's related journal entry as well as the press release on the SEC’s Web site.