At its meeting yesterday, the Private Company Council (PCC) discussed its proposal on identifiable intangible assets, which would give private companies the option of recognizing fewer intangible assets in a business combination. The PCC made the following tentative decisions:

• An entity that elects the option would not recognize intangible assets for noncompete agreements and would only recognize intangible assets for customer relationships if such assets can be sold or licensed independently from other assets of a business. 
• When elected, the option would be applied prospectively to all intangible assets arising from business combinations occurring after adoption (i.e., the option would not affect intangible assets recognized from previous business combinations).
• An entity that elects the option would be required to amortize goodwill in accordance with the separate goodwill accounting alternative in ASU 2014-02.¹ However, an entity could choose to amortize goodwill without electing the option.

Other topics discussed at this week’s meeting included:

• Complexities related to private companies’ accounting for stock-based compensation and certain partnership transactions (e.g., formation); ultimately, the PCC directed the FASB staff to conduct pre-agenda research on both of these topics.
• The PCC’s views on the FASB’s projects on impairment of financial instruments and pushdown accounting.

The PCC has scheduled its next meeting for September 16, 2014, at which time it will continue discussing the intangible asset alternative and decide whether the proposed ASU should be reexposed for comment.

For more information about the PCC’s July 15, 2014, meeting, see the media recap on the FASB’s Web site.

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1 FASB Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-02, Accounting for Goodwill.