Summary of Interpretation No. 39

Offsetting of Amounts Related to Certain Contracts—an interpretation of APB Opinion No. 10 and FASB Statement No. 105

Summary

APB Opinion No. 10, Omnibus Opinion—1966, paragraph 7, states that "it is a general principle of accounting that the offsetting of assets and liabilities in the balance sheet is improper except where a right of setoff exists." This Interpretation defines right of setoff and specifies what conditions must be met to have that right. It also addresses the applicability of that general principle to forward, interest rate swap, currency swap, option, and other conditional or exchange contracts and clarifies the circumstances in which it is appropriate to offset amounts recognized for those contracts in the statement of financial position. In addition, it permits offsetting of fair value amounts recognized for multiple forward, swap, option, and other conditional or exchange contracts executed with the same counterparty under a master netting arrangement.

This Interpretation is effective for financial statements issued for periods beginning after December 15, 1993.