Accounting Spotlight

Accounting Spotlight newsletters, published as warranted, analyze key issues related to the implementation of accounting guidance on selected topics, such as revenue recognition.

Related Publications

Accounting Spotlight — Accounting and reporting considerations for environmental credits

11 May 2023

This publication examines environmental credits and certain current U.S. accounting practices, regulatory developments, and other accounting issues associated with them. Originally issued in October 2022, this publication was updated to reflect the expanded coverage of this topic in Deloitte’s November 16, 2022, Financial Reporting Alert on financial reporting considerations related to environmental events and activities.

Accounting Spotlight — Current expected credit losses — Complexities for commercial entities

30 Jan 2023

This Accounting Spotlight discusses considerations for commercial entities adopting the FASB’s current expected credit loss (CECL) standard in 2023.

Accounting Spotlight — Lease Accounting — Planning on Going Public? What You Need to Know About the Potential ASC 842 Implications

16 Aug 2022

This Accounting Spotlight discusses certain key accounting and financial reporting matters related to the FASB’s leasing standard, ASC 842, that an entity needs to consider when going public.

Accounting Spotlight — The Metaverse: Accounting considerations related to nonfungible tokens

21 Jun 2022

This Accounting Spotlight discusses accounting implications of the evolving metaverse, an immersive digital environment that allows users to interact with their surroundings and one another in a shared space.

Accounting Spotlight — Cloud migration complexities

29 Mar 2022

This Accounting Spotlight discusses the accounting for software migration costs in cloud computing arrangements such as software as a service, platform as a service, and infrastructure as a service. Considerations addressed include differentiating between a service contract and internal-use software, identifying capitalizable or deferrable costs, and how migrating applications to the cloud may affect the accounting for existing capitalized software costs.

Accounting Spotlight — Lease accounting — Real estate rationalization 101: Current market trends and the potential accounting implications from a lessee’s perspective

30 Mar 2021

This Accounting Spotlight discusses certain key accounting and financial reporting considerations related to various aspects of an entity’s real estate rationalization program.

Accounting Spotlight — Current Expected Credit Losses — Postadoption Complexities

28 Oct 2020

This Accounting Spotlight focuses on certain postadoption complexities that entities, particularly in commercial industries, are facing with the new CECL standard.

Accounting Spotlight — Revenue recognition — Contract modifications

29 Jun 2020

This publication discusses the accounting for contract modifications under the new revenue standard (ASC 606), including the determination of whether a price concession should be accounted for as a contract modification. It provides illustrative examples of contract modifications and price concessions that may arise in the current economic environment.

Accounting Spotlight — Accounting for costs incurred in the application of agile software development

13 May 2020

This Accounting Spotlight discusses cost capitalization considerations for entities that apply the agile method of software development. Because of the dynamic nature of agile software development, differences with the traditional method of software development in terms of the stages of project planning and their interdependence can lead to unique challenges in the application of the guidance on software cost capitalization.

Accounting Spotlight — Revenue recognition — Identifying performance obligations

17 Sep 2019

This Accounting Spotlight discusses the identification of performance obligations under the new revenue standard (the guidance in ASU 2014-09, “Revenue From Contracts With Customers (Topic 606),” as amended). The publication explains that an entity applying the new revenue standard is required to identify a performance obligation by determining whether a promised good or service is (1) capable of being distinct and (2) distinct within the context of the contract. If the promised good or service does not meet both of these requirements, it must be combined with other goods or services promised in the contract until there is a combination of goods or services that meets the requirements.

Accounting Spotlight — Revenue recognition — Evaluating whether an entity is acting as a principal or as an agent

28 May 2019

This Accounting Spotlight discusses the key principal-versus-agent considerations under the FASB’s new revenue standard (the guidance in ASU 2014-09, "Revenue From Contracts With Customers (Topic 606)," as amended) that an entity must evaluate to determine whether it is a principal or an agent in a transaction. The changes result from the standard’s shift from a risks-and-rewards model to a control model.

Accounting Spotlight — Revenue recognition — Accounting for costs of obtaining a contract

05 Apr 2019

This Accounting Spotlight discusses whether particular costs, such as salaries, commissions, and bonus payments, are incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer and therefore should be capitalized under the cost guidance of the new revenue standard as codified in ASC 340-40. It also highlights considerations for determining the amortization period for capitalized costs of obtaining a contract with a customer in accordance with that guidance.

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.

IAS plus

IAS plus

Deloitte User?

IAS plus

Accounting Spotlight

Related Publications

Accounting Spotlight — Accounting and reporting considerations for environmental credits

Accounting Spotlight — Current expected credit losses — Complexities for commercial entities

Accounting Spotlight — Lease Accounting — Planning on Going Public? What You Need to Know About the Potential ASC 842 Implications

Accounting Spotlight — The Metaverse: Accounting considerations related to nonfungible tokens

Accounting Spotlight — Cloud migration complexities

Accounting Spotlight — Lease accounting — Real estate rationalization 101: Current market trends and the potential accounting implications from a lessee’s perspective

Accounting Spotlight — Current Expected Credit Losses — Postadoption Complexities

Accounting Spotlight — Revenue recognition — Contract modifications

Accounting Spotlight — Accounting for costs incurred in the application of agile software development

Accounting Spotlight — Revenue recognition — Identifying performance obligations

Accounting Spotlight — Revenue recognition — Evaluating whether an entity is acting as a principal or as an agent

Accounting Spotlight — Revenue recognition — Accounting for costs of obtaining a contract

Correction list for hyphenation