All areas and topics

ASC 105 establishes the FASB Accounting Standards Codification as the single source of authoritative U.S. GAAP for nongovernmental entities, supplemented for SEC registrants by SEC rules, interpretive releases, SABs and staff announcements (105-10-05-1, 105-10-10-1). Its single subtopic, 105-10, sets the hierarchy for gaps: when no authoritative guidance addresses a transaction, an entity first considers authoritative guidance for similar transactions by analogy (unless analogy is prohibited), and only then turns to nonauthoritative sources such as FASB Concepts Statements, IFRS, AICPA Issues Papers, TPAs, textbooks and prevalent industry practice, weighted by relevance, specificity, authority of the author, and use in practice (105-10-05-2, 105-10-05-3). The key idea is that everything outside the Codification is nonauthoritative — Accounting Standards Updates merely amend the Codification and are not themselves authoritative — subject to narrow grandfathered guidance for ongoing transactions such as poolings of interests, pension transition assets/obligations, and pre-Statement 114 troubled debt restructurings (105-10-05-5, 105-10-70-2). The Codification need not be applied to immaterial items (105-10-05-6).

ASC 205 governs the overall presentation of financial statements: what a full set of statements includes, how comparative periods must be presented and any change in basis or reclassification explained (205-10), when a disposal qualifies as a discontinued operation and how it is presented and disclosed (205-20), when an entity must abandon going-concern accounting for the liquidation basis because liquidation is "imminent" (205-30), and management's required each-period evaluation of substantial doubt about the entity's ability to continue as a going concern within one year after issuance (205-40). Layered on top are industry-specific presentation Subtopics — agriculture (205-905), health care (205-954), investment companies (205-946), not-for-profit entities (958-205), common interest realty associations (205-972), and the employee benefit plan Subtopics for defined benefit pension (960-205), defined contribution (962-205), and health and welfare plans (965-205) — while 205-915 (development stage entities) was entirely superseded by ASU 2014-10. The unifying idea is that the going concern basis is presumed unless liquidation is imminent, and that financial statements must be presented in a comparable, clearly labeled form that lets users assess an entity's continuing operations, disposals, and ability to meet obligations.

ASC 210 governs the balance sheet (statement of financial position): when and how assets and liabilities are classified as current or noncurrent, and when they may be offset. The Overall Subtopic (210-10) defines current assets and current liabilities by reference to one year or the operating cycle, whichever is longer, and applies only if an entity elects a classified balance sheet; ASC 210-20 supplies the general offsetting principle — netting is improper unless all four right-of-setoff conditions in 210-20-45-1 are met (mutual determinable amounts, right to set off, intent to set off, enforceability at law including bankruptcy) — with a narrow repo/reverse-repo election and extensive master netting disclosures. Industry subtopics tailor these rules: brokers and dealers (210-940) simply point back to 210-20-45; depository and lending institutions (210-942) and insurance entities (210-944) specify which balances may or may not be offset; health care entities (210-954), not-for-profits (210-958), and investment companies (210-946) prescribe specialized formats and liquidity disclosures. Subtopics 210-912 (government contractors) and 210-915 (development stage entities) are empty shells fully superseded by ASU 2014-09 and ASU 2014-10 respectively.

ASC 215 is a "link" topic: it establishes no substantive rules of its own for the statement of shareholder equity. The Overall Subtopic (215-10) merely points readers to Topic 505 for disclosure guidance on the items comprising shareholders' equity (215-10-05-1; 215-10-50-1). The only other subtopic, 215-915, once required development stage entities to present cumulative inception-to-date detail of each equity issuance, but every paragraph (215-915-05-1, 15-1, and 45-1 through 45-3) was superseded by ASU 2014-10, which eliminated the development stage entity concept from U.S. GAAP. The key takeaway: look to Topic 505 (and general presentation topics) for equity presentation and disclosure, and note that no special inception-to-date equity reporting survives for development stage entities.

ASC 220 covers the presentation and disclosure of income statement and comprehensive income information; it addresses how to display items, not when to recognize or how to measure them. The core Subtopic (220-10) requires comprehensive income—net income plus other comprehensive income—to be reported in a single continuous statement or two separate but consecutive statements, with OCI components (foreign currency translation, cash flow hedges, AFS debt securities, pension/OPEB, instrument-specific credit risk) enumerated in 220-10-45-10A, tax effects allocated by component, and reclassification adjustments from AOCI reported together in one place to avoid double counting. Companion Subtopics prescribe display of specific items—unusual or infrequently occurring items as a separate component of income from continuing operations (220-20), business interruption insurance recoveries (220-30), and the new disaggregation of income statement expenses by natural category for public business entities (220-40, from ASU 2024-03)—while industry Subtopics tailor the income statement for investment companies (220-946), NFP health care entities' performance indicator (220-954), the NFP statement of activities (220-958), oil and gas (220-932), and government contractors (220-912). The unifying idea is that Topic 220 dictates where and how amounts appear in the performance statements and notes, leaving recognition and measurement to other Topics.

ASC 225, Income Statement, is a fully retired Topic: every subtopic digested here — the Overall subtopic (225-10), extraordinary and unusual items (225-20), business interruption insurance (225-30), development stage entities (225-915), and the industry subtopics for federal government contractors (225-912), oil and gas (225-932), investment companies (225-946), health care entities (225-954), and not-for-profit entities (225-958) — consists entirely of superseded paragraphs. Most were removed by Maintenance Update 2017-19, which relocated income statement presentation guidance to ASC 220 (Income Statement—Reporting Comprehensive Income, e.g., 220-20 for unusual or infrequently occurring items and 220-30 for business interruption insurance) and to the industry Topics (932, 946, 954-205, 958-205); ASU 2015-01 separately eliminated the extraordinary item concept and ASU 2014-10 eliminated the development stage entity concept. The single most important idea is that nothing in Topic 225 may be cited as authoritative support — superseded paragraph numbers are retained only as historical markers for tracing where guidance moved. Substantively, extraordinary item classification (net-of-tax presentation below income from continuing operations) no longer exists, though material items unusual in nature or infrequent in occurrence are still shown as a separate component of income from continuing operations, or disclosed, under ASC 220-20 and not net of tax.

ASC 230 requires every entity that presents both financial position and results of operations to present a statement of cash flows classifying cash receipts and payments as operating, investing, or financing activities, and to explain the change in the total of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and restricted cash equivalents (230-10-15-3, 45-4, 45-24). The Overall subtopic (230-10) sets the core rules: the direct method (encouraged) or indirect method with a required reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities, gross reporting with narrow net-reporting exceptions, no cash flow per share, the predominance test for cash flows with more than one class, and disclosures of the cash equivalents policy, interest and taxes paid, noncash investing and financing activities, and cash restrictions (230-10-45-3, 45-7 through 45-9, 45-22 and 45-22A, 45-25 through 45-29, 50-1 through 50-8). The remaining subtopics graft narrow overlays onto that framework — foreign currency translation and the separate exchange rate effect line (230-830), banks' net reporting (230-942), operating classification of film costs (230-926), broadcast program license rights (230-920), real estate held for resale (230-970), time-sharing notes receivable (230-978), NFP donor-restricted and agency cash flows (230-958), investment company exemption and reinvested distributions (230-946), and the superseded development stage entity rules (230-915). The unifying idea is that classification follows the nature and purpose of the cash flow — inventory-like or revenue-producing activity is operating even when the related asset is capitalized.

ASC 235 governs the notes to financial statements, centering on the requirement in ASC 235-10-50-1 that any financial statements purporting to present fairly in accordance with GAAP include a description of all significant accounting policies as an integral part of the statements — preferably in a separate summary preceding the notes or as the initial note (235-10-50-6). "Accounting policies" are the specific principles and methods management judges most appropriate (235-10-05-3), and disclosure must highlight selections among acceptable alternatives, industry-peculiar methods, and unusual or innovative applications of GAAP (235-10-50-3), without duplicating detail shown elsewhere (235-10-50-5). Several industry subtopics remain: 235-946 (investment companies with multiple classes, master-feeder structures, and funds of funds), 235-972 (common interest realty associations, including unaudited supplementary estimates of future major repairs and replacements), and 932-235 (oil and gas — cost method, capitalized exploratory well costs, and supplementary reserve and standardized measure disclosures for publicly traded entities). The industry overlays for construction contractors (235-910), federal government contractors (235-912), and development stage entities (235-915) are fully superseded, so those entities now rely on the general policy-disclosure requirements of 235-10 together with ASC 606.

ASC 250 sets out how entities report accounting changes and correct errors. The Overall Subtopic (250-10) establishes the framework: a change in accounting principle is applied retrospectively and is permitted only if required by a Codification update or justified as preferable; a change in accounting estimate (including a change in depreciation, amortization, or depletion method, which is a change in estimate effected by a change in principle) is accounted for prospectively in the period of change and future periods; a change in reporting entity is applied retrospectively; and an error in previously issued statements is corrected by restatement, excluded from current net income. Retrospective application captures only direct effects (indirect effects go to the period of change) and may be scaled back only when "impracticable" under the narrow conditions of 250-10-45-9. Two industry Subtopics apply this framework: 250-978 treats a time-share redelineation driven by a significant change in facts and circumstances as a change in estimate (current-period adjustment per 978-330-35-1) but a mere rephasing as a change in the method of applying a principle, and 250-980 provides that a change in method by a regulated entity is reported like an unregulated entity's unless it affects costs allowable for rate-making, in which case it generally follows regulatory implementation.

ASC 255 covers voluntary supplementary disclosure of the effects of changing prices (inflation) on financial statements. ASC 255-10 encourages — but does not require — business entities reporting in U.S. dollars to present a five-year summary of current cost/constant purchasing power data (255-10-15-3; 255-10-50-1, 50-3), and supplies the measurement mechanics: current cost or lower recoverable amount for inventory and PP&E (255-10-50-20, 50-36 through 50-37), restatement of only cost of goods sold and depreciation, depletion, and amortization (255-10-50-39 through 50-40) with no adjustment to income tax expense (255-10-50-41), CPI-U restatement, translate-restate vs. restate-translate methods for foreign functional currency operations (255-10-50-45 through 50-49), and computation of the purchasing power gain or loss on net monetary items (255-10-50-50; 255-10-55-1 through 55-13). ASC 255-912 layers on an industry rule for federal government contractors that elect to make these disclosures: contract inventories, fixed-price contract advances, and warranty obligations are nonmonetary, while accrued losses on contracts are monetary (255-912-50-1). The central idea is that the monetary/nonmonetary classification of each balance sheet item drives the purchasing power gain or loss, the key inflation-effect metric.

ASC 260 sets the rules for computing, presenting, and disclosing basic and diluted earnings per share for entities with publicly traded common stock or potential common stock. Basic EPS is income available to common stockholders (income reduced by preferred dividends declared or cumulatively accumulated, excluding amounts attributable to noncontrolling interests) divided by weighted-average shares outstanding (260-10-45-10 through 45-11A), while diluted EPS layers in all dilutive potential common shares using the treasury stock method for options and warrants (260-10-45-22 through 45-29), the reverse treasury stock method for written puts and forward purchases, and the if-converted method for convertible securities (260-10-45-40). The pieces fit together through a discipline of dilution: each issue is tested separately, ranked most to least dilutive, antidilutive items are excluded, and income (loss) from continuing operations is the control number, so a loss from continuing operations bars inclusion of any potential common shares (260-10-45-17 through 45-20). Specialized rules address contingently issuable and contingently convertible shares, the two-class method for participating securities (including unvested awards with nonforfeitable dividend rights), down round features treated as a deemed dividend, and master limited partnership earnings per unit.

ASC 270 explains how GAAP applies to periods shorter than a year and what must be disclosed in interim reports. Its organizing idea is the "integral part" view (270-10-45-1): an interim period is a piece of the annual period, so results follow the accounting principles used in the latest annual statements, subject to specified modifications — interim inventory exceptions (LIFO base liquidations, estimated gross profit rates, temporary market declines), allocation of year-end-type costs such as bonuses and shrinkage, and tax computed on ordinary income at an estimated annual effective tax rate. ASC 270-740 supplies the hybrid tax model (annual effective rate for ordinary income; discrete recognition of unusual items, tax law/rate changes, beginning-of-year valuation allowance changes, and certain share-based payment effects), while ASC 270-932 relieves oil and gas entities from repeating Subtopic 932-235 reserve disclosures in interim reports unless a major discovery or other significant event changes the reserve information. The unifying takeaway: smooth what is annual in nature over the interim periods, but report discrete, material, or unusual events in the period they occur — disposals of a component and unusual or infrequently occurring items are never prorated (270-10-45-11).

ASC 272 tells U.S.-organized limited liability entities (LLCs and LLPs) how to present GAAP financial statements, essentially requiring them to look like partnership statements. A complete set includes a statement of financial position, statement of operations, statement of cash flows, notes, and information on changes in members' equity (separately, combined with operations, or in the notes) (272-10-45-1); headings must identify the entity as an LLC and the equity caption must read "members' equity" (272-10-45-2 through 45-3). The central idea is transparency about the limited-liability structure: a negative equity balance is still reported as a deficit (272-10-45-4), unpaid capital contributions are deducted from members' equity rather than shown as assets (272-10-45-5), and the notes must describe any limitation of members' liability, the classes of member interests and their rights, and any finite-life termination date (272-10-50-1; 272-10-50-3). If formation of the LLC creates a new reporting entity, the change is applied retrospectively to all prior periods, with disclosure of any exceptions to comparability (272-10-45-6 through 45-7; 272-10-50-2).

ASC 274 sets the reporting framework for personal financial statements of an individual, a married couple, or a family: assets are presented at estimated current values and liabilities at estimated current amounts, both recognized on the accrual basis (274-10-25-1; 274-10-35-1). The required statement is a statement of financial condition ending in net worth, with assets and liabilities listed by order of liquidity and maturity and no current/noncurrent classification; statements of changes in net worth and comparative statements are optional (274-10-45-4, 45-5, 45-7). Measurement rules are asset-specific — discounted amounts for receivables, payables, nonforfeitable fixed rights and noncancellable commitments; quoted market prices for marketable securities; cash value less policy loans for life insurance; and a single net investment amount for a closely held business marketable as a going concern (274-10-35-4 through 35-13, 45-9, 45-11). The distinctive feature is a provision for estimated income taxes computed as if all assets were realized and all liabilities liquidated at the statement date, presented between liabilities and net worth (274-10-35-15, 274-10-45-12), supported by extensive disclosures (274-10-50-2).

ASC 275 governs disclosure of risks and uncertainties that exist at the balance sheet date. The general Subtopic (275-10) requires all entities to disclose four things in the basic financial statements — nature of operations (or, if principal operations have not commenced, current activities), the pervasive use of management's estimates, certain significant estimates, and current vulnerability from certain concentrations — but only when screening criteria are met: generally that it is at least reasonably possible a change or severe impact will occur in the near term and the effect would be material or severe (275-10-50-1; 50-8; 50-16). The industry Subtopic (275-912) layers on incremental disclosures for federal government contractors exposed to the government's unilateral right to terminate for convenience, requiring recognition only of the reasonably estimable portions of a termination claim with the remainder disclosed. The core idea is selectivity: ASC 275 is a disclosure-only standard that does not change recognition or measurement, and it expressly excludes risks such as management/key personnel, proposed regulatory or accounting changes, internal control weaknesses, and acts of God or war (275-10-15-4).

ASC 280 requires public entities to report segment information under the "management approach": operating segments are the components whose discrete results the chief operating decision maker (CODM) regularly reviews to allocate resources and assess performance (280-10-50-1), with aggregation permitted only under the five similarity criteria (280-10-50-11) and reportability driven by the 10 percent revenue/profit/asset thresholds and the 75 percent of consolidated revenue floor (280-10-50-12 through 50-14). Reportable segments must disclose a measure of profit or loss, total assets, specified items such as interest, depreciation and tax expense, significant segment expense categories and "other segment items," plus reconciliations to consolidated amounts (280-10-50-22 through 50-31); all public entities, even those with one reportable segment, give entity-wide disclosures about products and services, geographic areas, and major customers (280-10-50-39 through 50-42). The industry subtopics add almost nothing: 280-908 (airlines) is entirely "Section not used," 280-932 (oil and gas) simply points to 932-235-50-22 through 50-23, 280-924 treats a nonpublic casino and its hotel, restaurant and parking operations as one industry segment while requiring geographic information across legal jurisdictions, and 280-954 clarifies that an insurer paying for a patient's care is not the health care facility's "customer" for major-customer disclosures. The core idea is that segment reporting mirrors how management actually runs and measures the business rather than any externally imposed segmentation.

ASC 305 is the Codification's topic for Cash and Cash Equivalents, but it is essentially an empty shell: the Overall subtopic (305-10) and all three industry subtopics — investment companies (305-946), depository and lending institutions (305-942), and health care entities (305-954) — had their overview, scope, presentation, and disclosure paragraphs superseded, mostly by Maintenance Update 2017-21 (with 305-10-55-1 superseded by ASU 2012-04 and 305-954-45-4 by ASU 2016-14). Because no recognition, measurement, or disclosure requirements remain, practitioners must look elsewhere: ASC 230 for the definition of cash equivalents, statement of cash flows presentation, and restricted cash (ASU 2016-18); ASC 210 for balance sheet classification; and the industry topics themselves (942-305 for bank reserve balances, 946 for investment company statements, 954 for health care presentation). The key takeaway is that Maintenance Updates are non-substantive cleanup — the superseded paragraph numbers are retained only for reference continuity and impose no requirements, so the deletions relocated guidance rather than changed accounting.

ASC 310 covers receivables — trade accounts, notes, and loans — from initial recognition through subsequent measurement, derecognition, presentation, and disclosure. The Overall subtopic (310-10) sets the base model: receivables management intends and is able to hold for the foreseeable future are carried at amortized cost basis with credit losses under Topic 326, while nonmortgage loans held for sale are carried at the lower of amortized cost basis or fair value through a valuation allowance; notes receivable are initially measured at present value with interest imputed under Subtopic 835-30. ASC 310-20 supplies the pervasive yield rule that nonrefundable loan origination fees and direct origination costs are deferred, netted, and amortized over the life of the loan as an interest-yield adjustment under the interest method, with all other lending costs expensed as incurred. Several legacy subtopics (310-30 purchased credit-impaired loans, 310-40 troubled debt restructurings, 310-910, 310-920) are now empty shells superseded by ASU 2016-13 (CECL), ASU 2022-02, and ASU 2014-09, leaving a set of industry-specific subtopics (mortgage banking, health care, insurance, benefit plans, not-for-profit promises to give, government contracts, time-sharing, retail land sales) that tailor recognition and presentation to particular receivable types.

ASC 320 governs investments in debt securities (equity securities moved to ASC 321 by ASU 2016-01). The Overall Subtopic 320-10 requires each debt security to be classified at acquisition as trading, available-for-sale, or held-to-maturity, with trading and AFS at fair value (unrealized gains/losses in earnings and OCI, respectively) and HTM at amortized cost, and it polices HTM classification through the "positive intent and ability to hold to maturity" standard, the narrow list of non-tainting sales/transfers, and category-based disclosures. Industry Subtopics layer on incremental rules: broker-dealers (320-940) use trade-date accounting and fair value through profit or loss for proprietary positions; financial institutions (320-942) face detailed major-security-type, maturity-grouping, and pledged-collateral disclosures; NFPs (320-958), health and welfare benefit plans (320-965), and investment companies (320-946) simply carry securities at fair value without the three-category model; and the insurance (320-944) and health care (320-954) Subtopics were wholly superseded by ASU 2016-01. The unifying idea is that fair value is the default measurement for debt securities, with amortized cost available only to entities that can demonstrate and maintain a genuine intent and ability to hold to maturity.

ASC 321 sets the default accounting for equity securities and other ownership interests (partnership, joint venture, and LLC interests) that are not consolidated, not equity-method, and not derivatives: measure at fair value on the balance sheet with all unrealized holding gains and losses and dividend income recognized in earnings (321-10-35-1, 35-6)—there is no available-for-sale/OCI category for equity securities. For equity securities without a readily determinable fair value that do not qualify for the NAV practical expedient, an entity may elect, investment by investment, the measurement alternative of cost minus impairment adjusted for observable price changes in orderly transactions of the same issuer (321-10-35-2), with a one-step qualitative impairment assessment each period (321-10-35-3 through 35-4) and an irrevocable later election to fair value. ASC 958-321 layers not-for-profit-specific rules on top: purchased equity securities are initially measured at acquisition cost excluding brokerage and transaction fees, contributed or agency-received securities at fair value (958-321-30-1), and investments held as agent with little or no discretion are reported as agency transactions rather than changes in net assets. A recurring theme is that an entity does not look through the form of the investment to the investee's underlying assets (321-10-55-6 through 55-7; 958-321-15-6).

ASC 323 (Investments—Equity Method and Joint Ventures) sets out when and how an investor that has significant influence—but not control—over an investee reports that interest on a one-line basis: initially at cost and thereafter adjusted for its share of investee earnings, losses, dividends and OCI, with intra-entity profit elimination, basis-difference amortization, loss recognition limited to the carrying amount, and other-than-temporary impairment (323-10). The core Subtopic 323-10 applies to common stock and in-substance common stock, with a rebuttable presumption of significant influence at 20% of voting stock (323-10-15-8), while companion Subtopics extend or override that model: 323-30 applies the method by analogy to partnerships, unincorporated joint ventures and LLCs; 323-970 covers real estate ventures (one-line presentation, contributed-property measurement, losses in excess of investment); 323-932 permits proportional (direct) inclusion for oil and gas joint interest operations; 323-946 bars the equity method for investment companies except for service-providing operating entities; 323-974 forces REITs to apply the equity method or consolidate non-VIE service corporations; and 323-740 provides the elective proportional amortization method for tax credit investments. The unifying idea is that significant influence—judged on substance and facts and circumstances, not only voting percentage—triggers equity method reporting, with industry-specific Subtopics tailoring or displacing that default.

ASC 325, Investments—Other, is the residual investments Topic: an investment is first tested against Topic 320 (debt securities), Topic 321 (equity securities), and Topic 323 (equity method/joint ventures), and only what is left falls into Topic 325 (325-10-05-1). Its two substantive general Subtopics are 325-30 (life insurance contracts, carried at "the amount that could be realized under the insurance contract," and life settlement contracts under an irrevocable investment-method or fair-value-method election) and 325-40 (beneficial interests in securitized financial assets, where accretable yield is accreted into interest income by the effective yield method and cash-flow changes run first through the Topic 326 credit loss model). The remaining Subtopics are industry glosses—broker-dealers (325-940, fair value), investment companies (325-946, transaction price then fair value), agricultural cooperatives (325-905, cost), depository institutions (325-942, FHLB/Federal Reserve stock at cost as a restricted security), health care and not-for-profit entities (325-954, 325-958), and employee benefit plans (325-960, 962-325, 325-965, generally fair value with contract-value and ERISA-reporting exceptions). The key takeaway is that Topic 325 collects measurement rules for investments that do not fit the securities Topics, and that ASU 2016-01 gutted its former cost-method content (325-20 and 325-944 are now empty shells superseded into ASC 321).

ASC 326 (Credit Losses) tells an entity how to measure expected credit losses on financial instruments through three subtopics: 326-10 Overall (purpose, scope for all entities, and the Section 65 transition/effective-date guidance, including ASU 2025-05 on accounts receivable and contract assets and ASU 2025-08 on purchased loans), 326-20 the CECL model for assets measured at amortized cost, and 326-30 impairment of available-for-sale debt securities. Under 326-20, an entity records at each reporting date an allowance—a valuation account deducted from amortized cost—equal to all credit losses expected over the contractual term, estimated on a pool basis when assets share similar risk characteristics, using historical loss experience adjusted for current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts with reversion to historical information thereafter (326-20-30-1, 30-2, 30-6, 30-8 through 30-9). Under 326-30, impairment is instead assessed security by security: the credit portion of a decline below amortized cost (present value of expected cash flows discounted at the effective interest rate versus amortized cost) is recorded as an allowance capped at the fair value shortfall, the rest goes to OCI, and an intent or likely requirement to sell triggers a write-down to fair value through earnings (326-30-35-1, 35-6, 35-10). The unifying idea is that credit losses are recognized currently and forward-lookingly through an allowance that presents the net amount expected to be collected, rather than only when losses are incurred.

ASC 330 establishes that inventory is initially measured at cost — all direct and indirect expenditures incurred to bring an article to its existing condition and location — with fixed overhead allocated on normal capacity and abnormal freight, handling, spoilage, and idle-capacity overhead expensed as period charges (330-10-30-1 through 30-8). Cost may be assigned using FIFO, average cost, LIFO, standard cost, or the retail inventory method, applied consistently to most clearly reflect periodic income; subsequent measurement is bifurcated, with LIFO and retail-method inventory subject to lower of cost or market (replacement cost capped at NRV and floored at NRV less normal profit) and all other inventory measured at lower of cost and net realizable value, a write-down creating a new cost basis that cannot be reversed (330-10-35-1B through 35-14). Industry subtopics tailor these rules: agriculture (330-905) accumulates growing-crop costs to harvest and permits NRV/market valuation for readily marketable products; mining (330-930) treats production-phase stripping costs as variable production costs of the ore extracted; airlines (330-908) carry expendable parts at cost with an obsolescence allowance; software (330-985), films (330-926), time-shares (330-978, relative sales value method), oil and gas (330-932), government contractors (330-912), and retail land (330-976) add narrow recognition, measurement, or disclosure rules, while construction contractor guidance (330-910) is fully superseded. The unifying idea is that inventory is carried at cost until cost exceeds the value recoverable through sale, at which point the loss is recognized immediately.

ASC 340 is the Codification's home for "other assets and deferred costs" — items paid or incurred now that are carried as assets and charged to expense later. The Overall subtopic (340-10) covers prepaid expenses classified as current assets and preproduction design and development costs under long-term supply arrangements (expense the product design costs; capitalize tooling costs only when the supplier owns the tools or holds a noncancelable right to use them, or when a contractual guarantee for reimbursement exists), while 340-40 supplies the modern, cross-cutting rule: incremental costs of obtaining a Topic 606 contract and qualifying fulfillment costs are capitalized if recoverable, amortized as the related goods or services transfer, and tested for impairment with no reversal. The remaining subtopics are industry overlays — deposit accounting for insurance contracts lacking risk transfer (340-30), prepaid reinsurance premiums (340-944), music advance royalties and record masters (340-928), broker-dealer exchange memberships and deferred underwriting expenses (340-940), GNMA issuance costs (340-948), health care prepaid physician costs (340-954), time-sharing selling costs (340-978), real estate project and preacquisition costs (340-970), and rate-regulated phase-in plan regulatory assets (340-980). The unifying idea is that deferral is permitted only when future recovery from identifiable future revenue is probable or reasonably expected; where that link was weak, ASU 2014-09 and ASU 2014-10 superseded the old guidance entirely (340-20 advertising, 340-910 contractors, 340-952 franchisors, 340-915 development stage entities).

ASC 350 covers the accounting for goodwill and other intangible assets after acquisition — recognition of internally developed and separately acquired intangibles, subsequent measurement, impairment, presentation, and disclosure — while leaving acquisition-date accounting to Topic 805 and 958-805 (350-10-05-1; 05-3A). The organizing idea is that subsequent accounting turns on the nature and life of the asset: goodwill is never amortized under the general model but is tested for impairment at the reporting unit level at least annually (350-20-35-1; 35-4), finite-lived intangibles are amortized and tested under Subtopic 360-10 while indefinite-lived intangibles are not amortized and are tested annually by comparing fair value with carrying amount (350-30-35-6; 35-18), and in-scope crypto assets are remeasured at fair value through net income (350-60-35-1). Cost-capitalization subtopics (350-40 internal-use software, 350-50 website development costs, 350-985 link to 985-20) draw stage-based lines between expensing and capitalizing, and industry subtopics (350-908 airlines, 350-920 broadcasters, 350-922 cable television, 350-932 oil and gas, 350-950 title plants, 350-980 regulated operations) tailor or except those rules. Key elective relief: private companies and NFPs may amortize goodwill over 10 years or less and test only upon a triggering event (350-20-35-63; 35-65 through 35-66).

ASC 360 covers the accounting for property, plant, and equipment: capitalizing cost, allocating it to periods through systematic and rational depreciation, testing long-lived assets for impairment, and reporting assets to be disposed of. The general guidance in 360-10 supplies the core model — depreciation as a process of allocation, not valuation (360-10-35-3 through 35-4); a two-step held-and-used impairment test triggered by indicators (360-10-35-21) that compares carrying amount to undiscounted future cash flows and then writes the asset group down to fair value with no restoration (360-10-35-17, 35-20); and held-for-sale classification under the six criteria in 360-10-45-9, with measurement at the lower of carrying amount or fair value less cost to sell and no depreciation (360-10-35-43). Layered on top are industry subtopics that tailor capitalization, depreciation, presentation, and impairment inputs for airlines, agriculture, cable television, mining, oil and gas, insurance, health care, regulated utilities, real estate projects, CIRAs, employee benefit plans, and not-for-profits. Note also that two subtopics are now empty shells — 360-20 (real estate sales, superseded by ASC 606/610-20/842-40) and 360-910 — and may not be cited as authoritative support.

ASC 405 is the Codification's home for general liability guidance, but it works mostly as a roadmap plus a handful of targeted rules. The Overall Subtopic (405-10) simply points to where liability recognition guidance actually resides (Topics 410, 420, 430, 440, 450, 460, 470, 480), while the substantive general rules are in 405-20 (a debtor derecognizes a liability if and only if it is extinguished — payment with relief of the obligation or legal release as primary obligor, plus breakage rules for prepaid stored-value products), 405-30 (accrual of insurance-related assessments when probable, an obligating event has occurred, and the amount is reasonably estimable), 405-40 (joint and several obligations fixed in total amount, measured at the entity's agreed share plus amounts expected to be paid for co-obligors), and 405-50 (disclosure-only rules for buyers in supplier finance programs). The remaining Subtopics are industry-specific overlays — agriculture cooperatives, broadcasters, casinos, films, music, contractors, brokers-dealers, insurers, investment companies, regulated entities, not-for-profits, health care, and depository institutions — each layering a narrow recognition, measurement, or presentation rule onto the general framework. The unifying idea is that a liability stays on the books until an obligating event ends it: derecognition requires actual extinguishment, not merely economic defeasance or an intent not to pay.

ASC 410 covers two distinct kinds of retirement/cleanup obligations. Subtopic 410-20 requires an entity to recognize, at fair value in the period incurred, a legal obligation to retire a tangible long-lived asset arising from its acquisition, construction, development, or normal operation, and to capitalize an equal asset retirement cost in the asset's carrying amount, with later accretion (credit-adjusted risk-free rate) and revisions to estimated cash flows (410-20-25-4; 410-20-25-5; 410-20-30-1; 410-20-35-3). Subtopic 410-30 instead applies the ASC 450-20 loss contingency model site by site to environmental remediation liabilities under CERCLA, RCRA, and analogous laws, accruing the entity's allocable share of joint and several liability when a loss is probable and reasonably estimable and expensing it in operating income, with separate recognition of probable recoveries. ASC 410-10 is purely navigational (410-10-05-2), and 410-980 adds regulatory asset/liability treatment for rate-regulated entities whose rate recovery of retirement costs differs in timing from GAAP cost recognition (410-980-25-2). The unifying idea: a retirement obligation is recognized up front at fair value and capitalized into the asset, whereas a remediation obligation from past contamination is a contingency expensed as incurred.

ASC 420 governs liabilities for costs of exit or disposal activities (restructurings) — one-time involuntary employee termination benefits, costs to terminate non-lease contracts, and other associated costs like facility closure and relocation. Its central idea is that a liability is recognized only when it is incurred, i.e., when a present obligation exists, and is measured initially at fair value; merely committing to an exit plan is not the requisite past event (420-10-25-1 through 25-2, 420-10-30-1). Timing rules turn on facts: one-time termination benefits are recognized at the communication date if no future service is required (or service will not extend beyond the minimum retention period, capped at the legal notification period or 60 days), but are recognized ratably over the service period if employees must render service beyond that period (420-10-25-7 through 25-9, 30-5, 30-6); contract termination costs are recognized on termination or at the cease-use date for costs continuing with no economic benefit (420-10-25-11 through 25-13). Subsequent revisions in cash flow timing or amount are remeasured using the original credit-adjusted risk-free rate, and passage-of-time changes are accretion expense, not interest cost (420-10-35-1 through 35-4, 45-5), with extensive disclosure including a rollforward by major cost type (420-10-50-1).

ASC 430 is a legacy "deferred revenue" topic that, after ASU 2014-09, has been almost entirely emptied out: its general subtopic (430-10) now consists of a single cross-reference paragraph (430-10-05-1) pointing to Topic 606, and every industry subtopic — cable television (430-922), films (430-926), music (430-928), health care/CCRC advance fees (430-954), and common interest realty associations (430-972) — has had all of its overview, scope, recognition, and measurement paragraphs superseded. The single most important idea is that consideration received before an entity satisfies its performance obligations is now presented and measured as a contract liability under ASC 606 (see 606-10-45-1 through 45-2), not under Topic 430. Surviving industry guidance lives in the respective industry topics (e.g., 954-606 and 954-440, 926-606, 928-606, 972), and ASC 430 should be treated only as a signpost or transition artifact — citing it as authoritative support for post-adoption periods is incorrect.

ASC 440 is primarily a disclosure Topic: it tells entities what contractual commitments must be described in the notes even when nothing is recorded on the balance sheet. The general Subtopic, 440-10, requires disclosure of items such as unused letters of credit, pledged assets, cumulative preferred dividends in arrears, plant acquisition and debt-reduction/working-capital/dividend-restriction commitments (440-10-50-1), plus off-balance-sheet unconditional purchase obligations (take-or-pay and throughput contracts) that are noncancelable, were negotiated to help finance the supplier's facility, and run more than a year (440-10-50-2 through 50-6); recognition itself is left to Topics 842, 815, and 330 (440-10-25-2 through 25-4). Industry Subtopics add narrow disclosure rules — music artist advances and royalty guarantees (440-928-50-1) and executed but unrecognized broadcast license agreements (440-920-50-1) — while 440-952 (franchisors) is entirely superseded. The one Subtopic with real measurement content is 440-954, which requires a CCRC to remeasure annually and accrue a liability for the obligation to provide future services and use of facilities when fees are insufficient, measured at the present value of future net cash flows less deferred revenue plus facility depreciation and unamortized costs of obtaining a contract (440-954-35-2 through 35-3).

ASC 450 is the general framework for contingencies — existing conditions whose uncertainty will be resolved by a future event confirming the acquisition of an asset, reduction of a liability, impairment of an asset, or incurrence of a liability (450-10-05-5) — noting that merely using an estimate does not create a contingency (450-10-05-6). The Topic is deliberately asymmetric: a loss contingency is accrued only when it is probable that an asset was impaired or a liability incurred at the balance sheet date and the amount is reasonably estimable (450-20-25-2, with range accrual at the best estimate or the minimum per 450-20-30-1), and disclosed when a loss is at least reasonably possible (450-20-50-3 through 50-4); a gain contingency is generally not recognized at all, only disclosed without misleading implications about realization (450-30-25-1, 450-30-50-1). Industry and entity-specific subtopics adapt the model: government contractors (450-912), rate-regulated utilities where regulator-approved recovery creates a liability rather than income (450-980-25-1), not-for-profits facing donor-restriction noncompliance or tax-exempt status problems (450-958), and health care entities accruing malpractice losses (including incurred-but-not-reported incidents) gross of insurance recoveries (450-954). The single most important idea is the probable/reasonably-estimable accrual threshold paired with the conservative refusal to anticipate gains.

ASC 460 tells a guarantor how to account for guarantees, and its core insight is that a guarantee contains two obligations: a noncontingent "stand-ready" obligation to perform over the term of the guarantee and a contingent obligation to make payments if triggering events occur. Under 460-10, the guarantor recognizes a liability at inception for the stand-ready obligation measured at fair value (the premium received in a standalone arm's-length transaction is a practical expedient), even when payment is not probable, with the liability being the greater of that fair value and any loss accrual required by Section 450-20-30; the liability is later reduced as the guarantor is released from risk. Even guarantees exempt from recognition (product warranties, derivatives at fair value, contingent consideration, equity-classified obligations, intercompany guarantees) must still be disclosed — nature and term, triggering events, maximum potential undiscounted future payments, carrying amount, recourse and collateral — even if the likelihood of payment is remote (460-10-50-4), and product warranties require a tabular rollforward of the aggregate warranty liability (460-10-50-8). ASC 460-954 simply applies this model to health care entities, pointing to the minimum revenue guarantee illustration for a recruited physician in 460-10-55-11.

ASC 470 covers a borrower's (issuer's) accounting for debt across its life cycle: balance sheet classification of short-term and callable obligations (470-10), convertible debt and debt with warrants (470-20), participating mortgages (470-30), product financing arrangements (470-40), modifications and extinguishments (470-50), troubled debt restructurings (470-60), plus industry-specific rules for oil and gas, insurance surplus notes, depository institutions, health care, not-for-profit conduit bonds, regulated operations, and real estate special assessments/TIF debt. The unifying theme is substance over form — obligations are classified and measured by their economic reality (e.g., a "sale" of future revenue, a "conveyance," or a product financing arrangement can all be borrowings), and current versus noncurrent classification turns on the creditor's demand rights at the balance sheet date. The two most heavily tested mechanics are the 470-10-45-14 refinancing exception for excluding short-term obligations from current liabilities and the 470-50-40-10 "10 percent cash flow test" that determines whether a modification or exchange is an extinguishment (new debt at fair value, gain or loss in income) or merely a continuation (new effective interest rate, no gain or loss). Troubled debt restructurings under 470-60 sit outside that model, using fair value for asset/equity settlements and prospective interest-rate adjustment for modifications of terms.

ASC 480 governs when an issuer must classify a freestanding financial instrument with characteristics of both liabilities and equity as a liability (or asset) instead of equity. Three classes are captured: mandatorily redeemable financial instruments (480-10-25-4), obligations other than outstanding shares to repurchase the issuer's own shares by transferring assets—forwards, written puts, warrants on puttable shares (480-10-25-8), and obligations settleable in a variable number of shares whose monetary value is fixed, indexed to something other than the issuer's shares, or varies inversely with the share price (480-10-25-14). Measurement is generally fair value (480-10-30-1), except mandatorily redeemable instruments and physically settled fixed-share forward purchase contracts, which are accreted to the settlement amount with the change recognized as interest cost (480-10-35-3, 45-3). The key idea is that instruments in scope are presented as liabilities or assets—never in a "mezzanine" between liabilities and equity (480-10-45-1)—and shares to be redeemed are excluded from EPS (480-10-45-4).

ASC 505 is the residual Equity Topic: it collects the guidance on transactions between an entity and its own shareholders that do not belong in another Topic. The Overall subtopic (505-10) sets the anchoring principle — transactions in an entity's own capital stock (including quasi-reorganizations and treasury stock) never affect net income, additional paid-in capital may not be used to relieve income of charges, and notes received for stock are a deduction from equity — plus extensive disclosures of rights, privileges, redemption requirements, and liquidation preferences. The transaction-specific subtopics apply substance over form: stock dividends versus stock splits in substance (505-20), treasury stock repurchases, retirements, and accelerated share repurchases (505-30), and spinoffs recorded at carrying amount with possible reverse spinoff accounting (505-60). Industry subtopics add disclosure or classification rules for agricultural cooperatives (505-905), insurance entities (505-944), depository institutions (942-505), and investment companies (505-946), while 505-50 is fully superseded — nonemployee share-based payments now live in ASC 718 (and ASC 606 for customer consideration).

ASC 605 is the legacy Revenue Recognition Topic, and ASU 2014-09 superseded substantially all of it in favor of the five-step model in Topic 606 (with contract costs in ASC 340-40). Per 605-10-05-3 there is no revenue recognition guidance left in Topic 605; the general subtopics (605-15 product sales/right of return, 605-25 multiple-element arrangements, 605-28 milestone method, 605-30 rights to use, 605-40 involuntary conversions, 605-45 gross vs. net, 605-50 customer incentives) and nearly all industry subtopics (airlines, films, franchisors, casinos, broker-dealers, real estate, software, etc.) are empty shells retained for historical and comparative-period reference. What survives is narrow: onerous-contract loss provisions for separately priced extended warranty/product maintenance contracts (605-20-25-6) and for construction- and production-type contracts (605-35-25-45 through 25-49, with presentation in 605-35-45-1 and 45-2) and software contracts requiring significant production or customization (605-985), plus revenue for contracts not with customers in industry subtopics — agricultural cooperatives (605-905), insurance premiums (944-605), health care charity care and related fundraising entities (605-954), NFP contributions (958-605), and regulated-utility alternative revenue programs (605-980). The key idea: cite ASC 605 today only for these residual loss-provision and non-customer revenue rules; everything else lives in Topic 606.

ASC 606 establishes a single, principles-based model for recognizing revenue from contracts with customers: revenue is recognized to depict the transfer of promised goods or services in an amount reflecting the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled, applied through five steps (606-10-05-4) — identify the contract, identify the performance obligations, determine the transaction price, allocate the price, and recognize revenue when (or as) each performance obligation is satisfied by transferring control. ASC 606-10 supplies the general model, including the contract criteria in 606-10-25-1, the "distinct" test for performance obligations (606-10-25-19), contract combination and modification rules (606-10-25-9 through 25-13), the over-time criteria in 606-10-25-27 versus point-in-time control indicators in 606-10-25-30, and presentation of contract assets, contract liabilities, and receivables (606-10-45-1 through 45-4). ASC 606-952 layers on a narrow practical expedient letting franchisors that are not public business entities treat listed pre-opening services as distinct from the franchise license, and optionally as a single performance obligation. The unifying idea is that control — the ability to direct the use of and obtain substantially all the remaining benefits from an asset — drives both what is promised and when revenue is recognized.

ASC 610 covers income that is not revenue from a contract with a customer under Topic 606 and is not addressed by other Topics such as Topic 842 (leases) or Topic 944 (insurance) (610-10-05-1). The Overall Subtopic (610-10) is purely scope-setting — it establishes the pervasive scope for the Topic and applies to all entities — while the substantive rules live in two Subtopics: 610-20, on gains and losses from the derecognition of nonfinancial assets and in substance nonfinancial assets transferred to noncustomers, and 610-30, on gains and losses on involuntary conversions of nonmonetary assets into monetary assets. The unifying idea is that when an entity gives up a nonfinancial/nonmonetary asset outside a customer contract, it recognizes a gain or loss measured as the difference between the consideration received (including liabilities assumed or relieved) and the asset's carrying amount. In 610-20 the timing borrows Topic 810's controlling-financial-interest test and then Topic 606's contract-existence, distinct-asset, and transfer-of-control criteria (610-20-25-2 through 25-6; 610-20-32-2), while in 610-30 the conversion is treated as a monetary transaction, so gain or loss must be recognized even if the proceeds are (or must be) reinvested in replacement assets (610-30-25-2; 610-30-25-3).

ASC 705 covers cost of sales and services, but it is mostly a set of pointers rather than a freestanding body of rules. The Overall Subtopic (705-10) explains that, under the Codification's asset liability model, cost recognition guidance actually lives in the related asset Topics — Topic 330 (inventory), Topic 360 (PP&E), Topic 606 and Subtopic 340-40 (contracts with customers), Topic 718 (share-based payment) — and the industry subtopics (705-905 cooperatives, 705-912 federal government contractors, 705-926 films, 705-976 retail land, 705-985 software) are likewise link-only or largely superseded by ASU 2014-09. The one substantive body of guidance is ASC 705-20, which requires a customer to treat consideration received from a vendor as a reduction of the purchase price of goods or services acquired (705-20-25-1) unless it pays for a distinct good or service, reimburses a specific incremental identifiable selling cost, or reimburses a qualifying consumer sales incentive. The takeaway: know where to look for cost guidance, and default to purchase-price reduction for vendor consideration.

ASC 710 (Compensation—General) is the residual compensation topic covering arrangements that fall outside pensions/OPEB (715), postemployment benefits (712), and stock compensation (718). Subtopic 710-10 sets the core rules: accrue compensated absences when the four conditions of 710-10-25-1 are met (services rendered, rights vest or accumulate, payment probable, amount reasonably estimable, with an exception permitting nonaccrual of nonvesting accumulating sick pay under 710-10-25-7); accrue individual deferred compensation contracts systematically over the service period so the accrual equals the present value of expected future benefits at the full eligibility date (710-10-30-1); limit deferral of union-contract lump-sum payments to situations where a future benefit from a lower base wage rate is clear (710-10-25-13); and classify rabbi trust employer stock as treasury stock with the deferred compensation obligation as equity or a liability depending on plan type (Plans A–D, 710-10-25-16 through 25-18). The industry overlays complete the picture: 710-980 requires regulated entities to accrue compensated-absence liabilities even when the regulator allows the cost only as paid, recording an offsetting regulatory asset for the probable future increased revenue (710-980-25-2), while 710-908 (Airlines) contains only "Section not used" placeholders, so airlines apply the general 710-10 guidance. The unifying idea is that compensation obligations are accrued as employees render the services that earn them, regardless of when cash is paid or recovered in rates.

ASC 712-10 tells employers how to account for nonretirement postemployment benefits — special and contractual termination benefits plus other postemployment benefits such as severance, salary continuation, disability and continued health coverage paid to former or inactive employees after employment but before retirement. Recognition depends on the type of benefit: special termination benefits are accrued when employees accept the offer and the amount is reasonably estimable (712-10-25-1); contractual termination benefits when it is probable employees will be entitled to them and the amount is reasonably estimable, measured as lump sums plus the present value of expected future payments (712-10-25-2); and other postemployment benefits under the compensated-absences model of 710-10-25-1 if they accumulate or vest, otherwise under the loss contingency model of 450-20-25-2 (712-10-25-4 through 25-5). The subtopic excludes pension/OPEB plan benefits (715-30, 715-60), individual deferred compensation (710-10), one-time exit-or-disposal termination benefits (420-10), and stock compensation (Topic 718). The central idea is that the trigger and timing of accrual are driven by which benefit category applies, with discounting permitted but not required (712-10-35-1) and disclosure required when an obligation is unaccrued solely because it cannot be reasonably estimated (712-10-50-2).

ASC 715 covers an employer's accounting for retirement benefits, built on the premise that a benefit plan is an exchange of deferred compensation for employee service, so cost is recognized as employees render service (715-10-05-6). The Topic splits by plan type: defined contribution plans expense the contribution called for in the period (715-70-35-1); multiemployer plans similarly expense the required contribution with extensive plan-by-plan risk disclosures (715-80-35-1); and single-employer defined benefit pension (715-30) and other postretirement benefit (715-60) plans require recognizing the plan's funded status on the balance sheet and a net periodic benefit cost with delayed recognition of prior service cost, gains/losses, and transition amounts through OCI, subject to the 10 percent corridor. ASC 715-20 supplies the presentation and disclosure rules—notably that only service cost is reported with other compensation cost while other components are presented separately outside any operating subtotal (715-20-45-3A)—and specialized Subtopics adapt the model for not-for-profits (715-958), rate-regulated entities (715-980), government contractors (715-912), and the coal industry (715-930). The single most important idea: the employer's obligation accrues with service, and the balance sheet must show funded status while earnings recognition of changes is smoothed over service periods.

ASC 718 requires an entity to recognize the cost of all share-based payment transactions using a fair-value-based method, generally the grant-date fair value of the equity instruments issued (or the fair value of liabilities incurred), recognized as goods are obtained or services are received over the requisite service period (718-10-10-2; 718-10-25-2; 718-10-30-3). The Overall Subtopic (718-10) sets scope, recognition, classification (Topic 480 as modified by 718-10-25-8 through 25-19A), and the treatment of service, performance (probable-outcome accrual) and market (built into grant-date fair value) conditions; 718-20 then handles subsequent measurement of equity-classified awards—modifications as an exchange of the old award for a new one with incremental cost, plus repurchases, cancellations, and clawbacks—while 718-30 handles liability-classified awards, which are remeasured each reporting period through the settlement date. Specialized subtopics cover ESOPs (718-40, with unearned ESOP shares as contra-equity and compensation cost measured at the fair value of shares committed to be released), employee share purchase plans (718-50, and its three-part noncompensatory test in 718-50-25-1), and income taxes (718-740, where book compensation cost creates a deductible temporary difference and the difference from the actual deduction hits income tax expense or benefit). The unifying idea: classification (equity vs. liability) drives whether the grant-date measure is frozen or remeasured, but compensation cost is always recognized as the entity receives the goods or services.

ASC 720 is a residual "Other Expenses" Topic that gathers unrelated cost categories not covered elsewhere in GAAP; 720-10-05-2 stresses that each subtopic is standalone, so guidance cannot be analogized from one to another. The dominant theme running through the general subtopics is expense-as-incurred: start-up and organization costs (720-15-25-1), advertising (720-35-25-1, either as incurred or the first time the advertising takes place), business process reengineering (720-45-25-1), and contributions made measured at the fair value of assets given (720-25-25-1, 720-25-30-1); exceptions with special timing include property taxes accrued monthly over the taxing authority's fiscal period (720-30-25-7), purchased retroactive/claims-made and multiple-year retrospectively rated insurance (720-20), WEEE historical waste liabilities recognized only over the measurement period (720-40-25-1), and ACA annual fees recognized in full at the first qualifying event with a deferred cost amortized over the calendar year (720-50-25-1). Industry subtopics (720-908 airlines, 720-922 cable, 720-924 casinos, 720-926 films, 720-928 music, 720-932 oil and gas, 720-942 depository institutions, 720-946/940 fund distribution, 720-948 mortgage banking, 720-954 health care, 720-958 not-for-profit functional expense reporting and joint costs, 720-970/972/974/978 real estate and time-share) mostly identify particular costs that fail the definition of an asset and must be charged to expense. The key takeaway: absent a specific rule permitting capitalization, these miscellaneous costs are period costs, and the analysis is always subtopic-specific.

ASC 730 identifies which activities and cost elements constitute research and development and requires that R&D costs within its scope be charged to expense when incurred (730-10-25-1), because the future benefits are too uncertain to justify capitalization (730-10-05-2 through 05-3). Subtopic 730-10 supplies the definitions, cost elements (including the "alternative future use" test for materials, equipment, facilities, and purchased intangibles), scope exclusions (contract R&D for others, extractive industries, routine alterations, market research, and R&D assets acquired in a business combination, NFP acquisition, or JV formation), and the requirement to disclose total R&D expense for each income statement period (730-10-50-1). The remaining subtopics address special settings: 730-20 looks to the substance of externally funded R&D arrangements (contract to perform R&D for others versus an in-substance liability to repay the funding parties) and imposes disclosure of significant agreement terms; 730-912 lets federal government contractors in best-efforts cost-sharing arrangements meeting all six conditions of 730-912-15-2 expense costs as R&D and record customer funding as an offset to aggregate R&D expense rather than revenue; and 730-985 is purely a cross-reference to the software guidance in 985-20. The unifying idea is immediate expense recognition, with substance-over-form governing how funding and arrangements are characterized.

ASC 740 sets out the asset-and-liability model for income taxes: recognize current taxes payable or refundable plus deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequences of all temporary differences and operating loss/tax credit carryforwards, measured at enacted rates without discounting, with deferred tax assets reduced by a valuation allowance when realization is not more likely than not (740-10-10-1; 740-10-25-2; 740-10-30-5, 30-8), and recognize uncertain tax positions under the two-step more-likely-than-not recognition and largest-benefit-greater-than-50-percent measurement model (740-10-25-6; 740-10-30-7). The remaining subtopics build on that core: 740-20 allocates the period's total tax among continuing operations (computed first, "with-and-without"), discontinued operations, OCI, and equity; 740-30 houses the outside-basis exceptions and the indefinite reversal criteria for foreign subsidiaries and joint ventures; 740-805 supplies the business combination rules; and 740-830 addresses foreign currency and price-level basis differences. A long tail of industry subtopics (casinos, oil and gas, insurance, thrifts, investment companies, health care, CIRAs, regulated utilities, bankruptcy/quasi-reorganization, and the now-superseded steamship guidance) adds narrow exceptions, presentation options, and disclosures. The unifying idea is comprehensive interperiod tax allocation subject to a short, closed list of exceptions in 740-10-25-3 and its industry counterparts.

ASC 805 requires every transaction meeting the definition of a business combination to be accounted for by the acquisition method: identify the acquirer, determine the acquisition date (805-10), recognize and measure the identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed and any noncontrolling interest at acquisition-date fair value subject to a closed list of exceptions (805-20), and recognize goodwill — the excess of consideration transferred plus NCI plus any previously held equity interest over identifiable net assets — or, after reassessment, a bargain purchase gain (805-30). Specialized subtopics adapt or displace that model: reverse acquisitions where the legal acquirer is the accounting acquiree (805-40), joint venture formations that apply a new basis without identifying an acquirer (805-60), and 805-50's residual bucket of asset acquisitions (cost allocated on relative fair values, no goodwill), common-control transfers at carryover basis, and optional pushdown accounting. Industry and entity-type overlays cover mining (805-930), insurance and demutualizations (805-944), not-for-profit mergers under the carryover method and NFP acquisitions with inherent contributions (958-805), and health care performance-indicator presentation (805-954). The central idea is that control obtained over a *business* triggers fresh-start fair value measurement and goodwill, while everything short of that is measured at cost or carryover basis.

ASC 808 addresses collaborative arrangements — contractual joint operating activities between two or more active participants who share significant risks and rewards tied to the endeavor's commercial success and that are not primarily conducted through a separate legal entity (808-10-15-4 through 15-11). The Topic is essentially a presentation, classification, and disclosure standard rather than a recognition/measurement standard: third-party revenues and costs are reported gross or net under the principal-versus-agent guidance in 606-10-55-36 through 55-40, and payments between participants follow Topic 606 in full only when the counterparty is a customer for a distinct unit of account (808-10-15-5B; 808-10-45-1). Otherwise, an entity presents such transactions by analogy to other authoritative literature or under a reasonable, rational, consistently applied policy election, and may not commingle them with revenue from contracts with customers (808-10-45-3). The core idea: identify whether the counterparty is a customer for a distinct unit of account, because that determines whether Topic 606 or the collaborative-arrangement presentation and disclosure rules (808-10-50-1) apply.

ASC 810 sets the framework for deciding when one reporting entity must present another legal entity's financial statements as its own. The core Subtopic, 810-10, requires a reporting entity first to test whether the other entity is a variable interest entity (810-10-15-14) — consolidated by the single primary beneficiary that has both power over the activities most significantly affecting economic performance and exposure to potentially significant losses or benefits (810-10-25-38A) — and only if it is not a VIE to apply the voting interest model (generally more than 50% of voting shares, or of kick-out rights for limited partnerships, per 810-10-15-8 and 15-8A) or the controlled-by-contract model. The remaining Subtopics either supply industry-specific overlays (proportionate/undivided-interest presentation for construction, mining, oil and gas, and real estate; the broker-dealer temporary-control exception; fair value rather than consolidation by investment companies; the NFP "control plus economic interest" model in 958-810; bank trust-preferred structures; regulated-affiliate intra-entity profit; time-sharing SPEs; sponsor-funded R&D arrangements in 810-30) or are shells whose paragraphs were superseded (810-20 limited partnerships by ASU 2015-02, 810-915 development stage entities by ASU 2014-10, 810-952 franchisors by ASU 2009-17). The single most important idea is that consolidation follows a controlling financial interest, tested VIE-first, with narrow industry exceptions to that general model.

ASC 815 tells you when a contract is a derivative, how derivatives are measured, and when an entity may elect the special "hedge accounting" that overrides normal measurement. The Overall Subtopic (815-10) defines a derivative by three characteristics — an underlying plus a notional or payment provision, little or no initial net investment, and net settlement (815-10-15-83) — lists the scope exceptions (notably normal purchases and normal sales and certain contracts in an entity's own equity), and requires all derivatives to be recognized on the balance sheet at fair value; 815-15 extends that reach by requiring bifurcation of embedded derivatives that are not clearly and closely related to their host (815-15-25-1), and 815-40 supplies the indexation and equity-classification tests for contracts in an entity's own stock. Hedge accounting is elective and gated by the designation and documentation rules of 815-20, with the mechanics differing by hedge type: fair value hedges adjust the hedged item's carrying amount with both sides in earnings (815-25-35-1), cash flow hedges park the change in fair value in OCI until the forecasted transaction affects earnings (815-30-35-3), and net investment hedges report effective amounts in the cumulative translation adjustment (815-35-35-1). Industry Subtopics (815-45 weather derivatives, 815-924 casinos, 815-932 gas balancing, 815-944 insurance, 815-954 NFP health care, 815-958 not-for-profit, 815-980 power sales) apply or carve out this framework for particular contracts and entities.

ASC 818 (created by ASU 2026-02) is a new Topic providing dedicated accounting for environmental credits — emissions allowances, carbon offsets, renewable energy certificates, RINs — and for the environmental credit obligations created by regulatory compliance programs such as cap-and-trade and renewable portfolio or fuel standards; items in its scope are excluded from Topic 815 derivatives accounting (818-10-15-3). Subtopic 818-20 permits asset recognition of a credit only if it is probable the credit will be used to settle an obligation, transferred in an exchange, or used in a nonreciprocal transfer, then splits recognized credits into compliance credits (not remeasured) and noncompliance credits (impairment-tested, with an optional fair value election by class); costs that fail the probable test are expensed and can never be capitalized. Subtopic 818-30 requires a liability once events on or before the reporting date create an obligation measured as if the reporting date were the end of the compliance period, and measures it in two pieces: a funded portion at the carrying amount of compliance credits on hand and an unfunded portion at the fair value of credits still needed (or cash settlement amount/estimated cost basis in limited cases). The unifying idea is that credits and obligations are accounted for separately — a cost-based, "probable use" asset model paired with a partly fair-value liability model — with expected future activities ignored in measurement and gross presentation of assets and liabilities required.

ASC 820 establishes a single definition of fair value—the exit price to sell an asset or transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date—and one framework for measuring it and disclosing it whenever another Topic requires or permits fair value (820-10-15-1 through 15-2, with exceptions for Topic 718 share-based payment other than 718-40, Topic 330, Topic 606, and 610-20). The measurement is market-based rather than entity-specific: it assumes a transaction in the principal (or most advantageous) market, uses market-participant assumptions, ignores the entity's intent to hold or settle, presumes highest and best use for nonfinancial assets, and assumes transfer (not settlement) of liabilities and own-equity instruments including nonperformance and own credit risk. Entities apply the market, cost, or income approach consistently and maximize observable inputs, categorizing inputs in a three-level hierarchy with the whole measurement classified at the lowest level input that is significant to it (Level 1 quoted prices generally unadjusted; blockage factors prohibited). The industry Subtopic 820-940 supplements this for brokers and dealers, listing nonexclusive factors used to determine a financial instrument's fair value (820-940-30-1) and requiring disclosure when an instrument is carried below its quoted price (820-940-50-1).

ASC 825 is the "overall" home for financial instruments guidance that does not fit elsewhere, and it does two main things: it permits the irrevocable, instrument-by-instrument fair value option (FVO) for eligible financial assets, financial liabilities, firm commitments, and written loan commitments with changes in earnings, and it requires incremental disclosures about fair value of financial instruments, concentrations of credit risk, and market risk (825-10). Subtopic 825-20 adds a distinct rule that registration payment arrangements are a separate unit of account — the underlying instrument is measured under other GAAP (e.g., 815-10, 815-40, 835-30) ignoring the contingency, while the contingent obligation follows the loss-contingency model of 450-20. The industry Subtopics tailor this framework: depository and lending institutions disclose face/contract amount, nature and terms, and collateral policies for instruments with off-balance-sheet credit risk (825-942); insurance entities record investment contract receipts as liabilities rather than revenue and disclose reinsurance credit-risk concentrations (825-944); and not-for-profit health care entities report FVO unrealized gains and losses within the performance indicator (825-954). The unifying idea is election-based fair value measurement plus transparency about risks (credit, market, off-balance-sheet) that the balance sheet alone does not reveal.

ASC 830 governs accounting for foreign currency, built on the functional currency concept: each entity measures its assets, liabilities, and operations in the currency of the primary economic environment in which it operates (830-10-45-2), determined by weighing the cash flow, sales price, sales market, expense, financing, and intra-entity indicators of 830-10-55-5. From that foundation, 830-20 handles transactions denominated in a currency other than the functional currency—recorded at the transaction-date rate, remeasured at each balance sheet date at the current rate, with transaction gains and losses in net income except for economic hedges of a net investment and long-term-investment-nature intra-entity balances (830-20-35-2, 35-3)—while 830-30 handles translation of a foreign entity's statements into the reporting currency, with assets and liabilities at the balance sheet rate, income items at rates on the dates recognized, and translation adjustments in OCI (the CTA), released to earnings only upon sale or complete or substantially complete liquidation (830-30-45-3, 45-4, 40-1). Special rules override the model for highly inflationary economies, which require remeasurement as if the reporting currency were the functional currency (830-10-45-11), and 830-946 gives investment companies detailed, largely elective rules for isolating the foreign currency component of gains and losses (830-946-45-4, 50-1). The single most important idea: identify the functional currency first, then remeasure (gains/losses to income) before you translate (adjustments to OCI).

ASC 832 addresses government assistance received by business entities (not-for-profits and Topic 960/962/965 employee benefit plans are outside its scope). As codified today it is a disclosure-only topic: for transactions with a government accounted for by analogy to a grant or contribution model, an entity must annually disclose the nature of the transaction, its accounting policy, the affected line items and amounts, and significant terms and conditions (832-10-50-1 through 50-5), omitting legally prohibited information only with a description of its general nature. ASU 2025-10 turns the Topic into a full recognition and measurement model for "government grants": nothing is recognized until it is probable both that the entity will comply with the grant's conditions and that the grant will be received (832-10-25-1), with grants related to assets recognized as related costs are incurred under an elected deferred income or cost accumulation approach (832-10-25-4 through 25-7) and grants related to income recognized in earnings on a systematic and rational basis as the related costs are expensed (832-10-25-9), or immediately if they compensate for past costs or give immediate support (832-10-25-10). The single most important idea is the probability-of-compliance-and-receipt threshold: receipt of cash alone does not prove the conditions were met, and repayments unwind the grant first against unamortized deferred income or the asset's carrying amount (832-10-35-1).

ASC 835 addresses the two situations in which the Codification itself provides interest recognition guidance: capitalizing interest cost incurred while a qualifying asset is being readied for its intended use (835-20) and imputing interest on notes whose face amount does not reasonably represent the present value of the consideration exchanged (835-30); the Overall subtopic (835-10) merely maps this structure and cross-references other Topics (310, 320/321, 470, 740) for instrument- and transaction-specific interest. Under 835-20, capitalized interest is treated as part of the asset's historical cost, measured as a capitalization rate applied to average accumulated expenditures and capped at total interest cost incurred; under 835-30, the note and related sales price/cost are recorded at fair value (of the goods or of the note, whichever is more clearly determinable) with the resulting discount or premium amortized by the interest method and presented as a direct deduction from or addition to the note's face amount. Numerous industry subtopics tailor these models — government contractors (835-912), cable television (835-922), films (835-926), oil and gas full cost (835-932), real estate ventures (835-970) and REITs (835-974), and regulated operations' AFUDC (835-980). The unifying idea is that interest is capitalized only where it is an avoidable cost of getting an asset ready for use, and interest income is recognized only when its receipt is reasonably expected.

ASC 840 was the legacy U.S. GAAP lease model, organized into an Overall subtopic (840-10: scope, capital-versus-operating classification criteria, lease term and minimum lease payments), operating leases (840-20), capital/direct financing/sales-type leases (840-30), sale-leaseback transactions (840-40), and industry intersections for not-for-profits (840-958), time-sharing (840-978), REITs (840-974), and regulated operations (840-980). Every substantive paragraph in all of these subtopics has been superseded — almost entirely by Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-02, which replaced Topic 840 with Topic 842, plus a handful of paragraphs (e.g., 840-10-60-3, 840-20-40-3 and 40-4, 840-30-25-5) superseded by ASU 2014-09 (Topic 606). The single most important point is that ASC 840 contains no operative guidance: current lease recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure must be found in Topic 842 (842-20 for lessees, 842-30 for lessors, 842-40 for sale-leasebacks, with transition in 842-10-65-1). Topic 840 survives only as a historical shell — some paragraph numbers are even marked "not used" (e.g., 840-10-55-11, 840-30-35-37) — relevant for comparative pre-adoption periods and transition analysis.

ASC 842 replaces the old capital/operating lease model with a right-of-use framework: a contract is or contains a lease if it conveys the right to control the use of an identified item of PP&E for a period of time in exchange for consideration (842-10-15-3, 15-4), and 842-10 supplies the common mechanics — identifying and separating lease and nonlease components, allocating consideration, classifying the lease at commencement under the five criteria in 842-10-25-2, and determining lease term and lease payments. Lessees then apply 842-20, recognizing an ROU asset and lease liability at the present value of unpaid lease payments (842-20-25-1; 30-1), with finance leases producing amortization plus interest and operating leases a single straight-line lease cost; lessors apply 842-30, either derecognizing the asset and recording a net investment in the lease (sales-type/direct financing) or keeping the asset and recognizing straight-line lease income (operating), subject to a collectibility-not-probable override. Specialized subtopics address sale and leaseback transactions and failed sales accounted for as financings (842-40), grandfathered leveraged leases (842-50), rate-regulated entities (842-980), and REIT service corporation leasing costs (842-974). The central idea is that classification drives the pattern of expense and income recognition, but essentially all leases are now on the lessee's balance sheet.

ASC 845 governs nonmonetary transactions — reciprocal exchanges of nonmonetary assets and nonreciprocal transfers to owners or others. The operative guidance is in ASC 845-10: the default is to measure the asset received at the fair value of the asset surrendered (or the asset received, if more clearly evident) and recognize gain or loss (845-10-30-1), unless one of three exceptions requires carryover of the recorded amount — fair value not determinable within reasonable limits, an exchange of product held for sale to facilitate sales to customers, or a transaction lacking commercial substance (845-10-30-3, 845-10-30-4). Special rules cover boot (25 percent threshold; pro rata gain to the boot receiver, full loss recognition), inventory purchases and sales with the same counterparty, spinoffs and other distributions to owners, and disclosure of the nature, basis of accounting, and gains or losses (845-10-50-1). The industry subtopics for airlines (845-908, slots recorded under Topic 845) remain, while the broadcaster (845-920), film (845-926), and software (845-985) barter subtopics were entirely superseded by ASU 2014-09, so those exchanges are now analyzed under ASC 606's noncash consideration guidance and ASC 845-10.

ASC 848, Reference Rate Reform, provided temporary, wholly optional expedients and exceptions from otherwise applicable GAAP for contract modifications, hedging relationships, and other transactions affected by the discontinuation of LIBOR and other reference rates — most importantly allowing a rate-reform-driven modification to be accounted for as a continuation of the existing contract rather than an extinguishment or new contract, and permitting hedging relationships to continue without dedesignation. The topic is organized as an Overall subtopic (848-10) plus subtopics for contract modifications (848-20), hedging in general (848-30), fair value hedges (848-40), and cash flow hedges (848-50). As presented here, every paragraph in each subtopic has been superseded — by ASU 2020-04 and ASU 2021-01 (which clarified scope for derivatives affected by the discounting transition) — and the transition paragraphs 848-10-65-1 and 65-2 were superseded on 07/02/2026 at the end of the sunset period deferred by ASU 2022-06. The single most important takeaway is that Topic 848 relief was time-limited: after the sunset date the expedients expired, no conclusion can be supported by citing these superseded paragraphs, and entities must apply ordinary GAAP (e.g., Topics 815 and 470) to reference-rate-related changes.

ASC 850 is a disclosure-only Topic: it tells you what to say about related party transactions and control relationships, but supplies no recognition or measurement rules (those live in other Topics). Under 850-10-50-1, financial statements must disclose material related party transactions — other than compensation arrangements, expense allowances, and similar ordinary-course items — including the nature of the relationship, a description of the transactions (even those given no or nominal accounting recognition, such as free services received per 850-10-05-5), dollar amounts for each income statement period, effects of changes in the method of establishing terms, and amounts due to/from related parties at each balance sheet date; intercompany transactions eliminated in consolidation need not be disclosed in those statements. Two guardrails matter most: receivables from officers, employees, or affiliated entities must be presented separately (850-10-50-2), and arm's-length equivalence may not be represented unless substantiated (850-10-50-5); a significant common ownership or management control relationship must be disclosed even if no transactions occurred (850-10-50-6). Subtopic 850-972 simply applies these requirements to common interest realty associations, flagging insurance, maintenance, or management services provided by board members, officers, or developers (850-972-50-1).

ASC 852 covers financial reporting by entities undergoing corporate reorganization, in two flavors. Subtopic 852-10 addresses Chapter 11 debtors expecting to reorganize as going concerns: GAAP continues to apply, but the statements must isolate reorganization effects—prepetition liabilities subject to compromise are segregated at expected allowed amounts (852-10-45-4 through 45-5), reorganization items (including professional fees expensed as incurred and interest income earned only because of the proceeding) are shown separately in the income statement and cash flow statement (852-10-45-9 through 45-13), and interest expense is reported only to the extent it will be paid or is probable to be an allowed claim, with the contractual shortfall disclosed (852-10-45-11, 50-3). On emergence, fresh-start reporting is required only if reorganization value is less than postpetition liabilities plus allowed claims and pre-confirmation voting shareholders receive less than 50% of the emerging entity's voting shares (852-10-45-19), after which value is allocated using Subtopic 805-20 with residual goodwill, retained earnings resets to zero, and straddling comparative statements are prohibited (852-10-45-20, 45-21, 45-26). Subtopic 852-20 governs the out-of-court quasi-reorganization ("readjustment")—the express exception to the rule that additional paid-in capital may not relieve the income account (852-20-25-2)—requiring full disclosure to and formal shareholder consent, fair (not unduly conservative) asset carrying amounts, write-offs charged first to retained earnings then to APIC, and a new retained earnings account dated from the readjustment's effective date (852-20-25-3 through 25-5, 30-2, 50-2).

ASC 853 tells an operating entity how to account for a service concession arrangement — a contract with a public-sector grantor to operate (and possibly construct, upgrade, or maintain) the grantor's infrastructure, such as airports, roads, bridges, prisons, or hospitals, used to provide a public service (853-10-05-1). The arrangement is in scope only if the grantor controls or can modify/approve the services, the recipients, and the price, and controls any residual interest in the infrastructure at the end of the term (853-10-15-3); arrangements meeting Topic 980's scope apply Topic 980 instead (853-10-15-4). The central idea is that, for in-scope arrangements, the grantor is always deemed the customer of the operation services under Topic 606, the infrastructure is not the operating entity's PP&E, and the arrangement is not a lease under Topic 842 (853-10-25-1 through 25-2). Consideration may take the form of grantor payments, the right to charge third-party users, or an unconditional grantor guarantee of a minimum payment (853-10-05-2), and other elements such as construction services, receivables, and guarantees are accounted for under other Topics.

ASC 855 tells an entity what to do with events that happen after the balance sheet date but before the financial statements are issued (SEC filers and conduit bond obligors) or available to be issued (all other entities). The core distinction is between "recognized subsequent events" — those giving additional evidence about conditions that already existed at the balance sheet date, which must be reflected in the statements (855-10-25-1) — and "nonrecognized subsequent events" arising from conditions that came into existence only after that date, which are not recognized but must be disclosed (nature plus an estimate of financial effect or a statement that none can be made) if needed to keep the statements from being misleading (855-10-25-3; 855-10-50-2). Non-SEC-filers must also disclose the date through which subsequent events were evaluated and the basis for that date (855-10-50-1), and the Topic defers to any other Codification Topic that addresses the same post-balance-sheet event (855-10-15-4). The industry subtopic ASC 855-926 for film entities was entirely superseded by ASU 2012-07, so film entities now apply ASC 926-20 plus general ASC 855-10 principles.

ASC 860 governs when a transferor may derecognize transferred financial assets (sale accounting) versus keep them on balance sheet (secured borrowing), plus the accounting for related servicing and collateral. The Overall subtopic, 860-10, supplies the controlling test: a transfer of an entire financial asset, group of entire financial assets, or a participating interest is a sale only if control is surrendered—legal isolation even in bankruptcy, the transferee's unconstrained ability to pledge or exchange, and no maintained effective control (860-10-40-5); failing any condition, 860-30 requires secured borrowing treatment with no change in the asset's measurement basis (860-30-25-2). If the test is met, 860-20 tells the transferor to derecognize, recognize all assets obtained and liabilities incurred at fair value, and record gain or loss immediately (860-20-40-1B), or, for a participating interest, allocate carrying amount on relative fair values (860-20-40-1A); 860-50 requires separate recognition of servicing assets/liabilities at fair value with an election by class between the amortization method and fair value measurement (860-50-25-1, 30-1, 35-1). ASC 860-40 (qualifying special-purpose entities) is now an empty shell—ASU 2009-16 eliminated the QSPE concept, so securitization vehicles are tested under 860-10-40 and consolidated (or not) under ASC 810-10.

ASC 905 provides incremental, industry-specific accounting guidance for agricultural producers, agricultural cooperatives, and patrons of cooperatives; entities in scope must still apply all other applicable GAAP (905-10-15-1). Its guidance is organized into three Subsections—General, Cooperatives, and Cooperatives—Patrons (905-10-05-2; 905-10-05-3)—and covers inventories of agricultural producers and development costs of land, trees and vines, intermediate-life plants, and animals (905-10-15-5), while excluding timber growers, tropical pineapple and sugarcane growers, raisers of animals for competitive sports, and merchants/noncooperative processors (905-10-15-4). The most important idea is the cooperative "price adjustment theory": a cooperative agrees to do business at cost and must return excess amounts to patrons, so patronage distributions are price adjustments rather than dividends (905-10-05-7; 905-10-05-8), a characterization that also supports the Internal Revenue Code deduction for earnings allocated to patrons (905-10-05-9).

ASC 908 supplies only incremental, industry-specific guidance for airline entities; those entities must otherwise follow all applicable GAAP outside the Topic (908-10-15-1), and the guidance reaches passenger and cargo carriers, joint operations, and carriers providing ancillary services (maintenance, food service) to others (908-10-15-2; 908-10-05-2). The Overall subtopic (908-10) is essentially scope plus background, then routes the reader to subtopics on Segment Reporting, Inventory, Intangibles—Takeoff and Landing Slots, Property, Plant, and Equipment, Compensation—General, Other Expenses, and Nonmonetary Transactions (the revenue subparagraph 908-10-05-1(f) was superseded by ASU 2014-09, so airline revenue now follows Topic 606). The background explains why airlines are distinctive: an unusual revenue cycle of advance and third-party ticket sales where the sale date rarely matches the service date and tickets may be refundable, exchangeable, or usable on other carriers (908-10-05-3); mobile flight equipment that complicates custody and control (908-10-05-5); carrier-designed, FAA-demonstrated maintenance programs (908-10-05-6); and flight-crew compensation that varies with flying status, equipment, hours, time of day, and seniority (908-10-05-7). The single most important idea: Topic 908 is a supplement, not a substitute, for general GAAP.

ASC 910 (Contractors—Construction) supplies incremental industry guidance for entities performing construction-type contracts—unique property built to a customer's specifications, usually at the customer's site, under bid or negotiated fixed-price, unit-price, cost-type, or time-and-materials contracts (910-10-15-1 through 15-4). Since ASU 2014-09 superseded most of its revenue guidance, revenue is now recognized under Topic 606 (910-10-60-1), leaving the Topic to address contract costs and presentation: equipment costs allocated to specific contracts under the "use rate" theory (910-20-25-1 through 25-3; 910-20-30-1), small tools charged as consumed with salvage credited to contract costs (910-20-25-4; 910-10-35-1), noncurrent classification of long-term retainages (910-10-45-1), and proportionate gross presentation for equity-method investments in unincorporated construction or extractive-industry entities (910-10-45-4). The unifying idea is that costs and revenues are accumulated by individual contract over more than one period, so cost allocation and liquidity-focused disclosure (unapproved change orders and claims, progress payments netted against costs, contract durations, retainage collection timing) carry the accounting weight.

ASC 912 layers incremental industry guidance for entities that contract with the U.S. federal government on top of otherwise applicable GAAP. The Overall subtopic (912-10) defines scope—all entities with federal contracts, and specifically cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts and fixed-price war and defense supply contracts terminated for the government's convenience—and explains the special risks of dealing with a sovereign customer that procures under complex statutes and regulations (912-10-05-5, 15-1 through 15-4). The Contract Costs subtopic (912-20) then supplies the cost accounting rules: Federal Acquisition Legislation and Regulation cost principles govern whenever cost analysis is performed in pricing or repricing (912-20-05-2, 05-3), indirect costs allowable under government regulations may be allocated to federal contracts only if also allowable under GAAP (912-20-25-1), subcontractor/vendor claims are liabilities measured under Subtopic 450-20 (912-20-25-3), and program accounting is generally not appropriate (912-20-25-5A, 25-8). The single most important idea is that a default termination is accounted for prospectively: any reduction of previously recorded earnings is a change in accounting estimate included in the current-period loss on termination under Subtopic 250-10—never a prior-period adjustment—and that loss must be presented separately or disclosed (912-20-25-5, 45-5, 50-1).

ASC 915 once housed the incremental reporting requirements for "development stage entities" — entities devoting substantially all efforts to establishing a new business with no principal operations or no significant revenue — which had to label themselves as such and present inception-to-date cumulative amounts of revenues, expenses, cash flows, and equity transactions. ASU 2014-10 superseded the entire subtopic: the overview and background (915-10-05-1 and 05-2) and the scope paragraphs (915-10-15-1 through 15-5) were eliminated, so no entity is now within the scope of Topic 915, and the transition paragraph 915-10-65-1 was itself superseded on 06/23/2016 once the transition period ended. The same ASU also amended the variable interest entity guidance in Topic 810. The single most important takeaway is that ASC 915 is now an empty shell — former development stage entities apply the same recognition, measurement, and presentation guidance as every other reporting entity.

ASC 920 (Entertainment—Broadcasters) provides incremental, industry-specific accounting and reporting guidance for broadcasters; the Overall subtopic (920-10) establishes the scope and organization of that guidance. Because it is incremental only, a broadcaster must also apply all other applicable GAAP outside the Topic (920-10-15-1). The Topic reaches all entities considered broadcasters and all of their transactions and activities, including network affiliation agreements (920-10-15-3), but excludes broadcasters that own the film (program material) they show, which instead follow ASC 926 Entertainment—Films (920-10-15-2). Related subtopics address Intangibles—Goodwill and Other, Liabilities, and Commitments, with several items superseded by ASU 2014-09 (920-10-05-2).

ASC 922 (Entertainment—Cable Television) provides industry-specific accounting guidance for the costs and expenses of constructing and operating a cable television system (922-10-05-1). The Overall subtopic sets the stage: it applies to all entities in the cable television industry, but supplies only incremental guidance, so those entities must also apply all other applicable GAAP, with each Subtopic's own Scope Section possibly narrowing coverage (922-10-15-1 through 15-2). The Topic is organized into Overall, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other, Property, Plant, and Equipment, Other Expenses, and Interest Subtopics; the former revenue-related subparagraphs were superseded by ASU 2014-09 (922-10-05-2). The key takeaway is that industry guidance here layers on top of, rather than replaces, general GAAP—and revenue recognition for cable operators now follows ASC 606.

ASC 924 (Entertainment—Casinos), Subtopic 10 "Overall," gathers the accounting and reporting rules unique to gaming entities and identifies the Topic's other Subtopics—Segment Reporting, Liabilities, Other Expenses, Income Taxes, and Derivatives and Hedging (924-10-05-1); the former Revenue Recognition Subtopic was superseded by ASU 2014-09. It addresses gaming chips, promotional allowances, base jackpots, slot machines, income taxes, and geographic segment disclosure (924-10-05-2), against a background of riverboat, Native American, and internet gaming/sports betting and large destination resorts with substantial hotel, food and beverage, and retail revenue (924-10-05-3 through 05-4). The single most important idea is that this guidance is incremental only: it applies to all entities operating as casinos and to the casino operations of other entities (924-10-15-2), which must still comply with all other applicable GAAP (924-10-15-1).

ASC 926 (Entertainment—Films) supplies only incremental, industry-specific guidance for producers and distributors that own or hold rights to exploit films in any market or territory; entities in scope must still apply all other applicable GAAP, and recorded music (Topic 928), cable television (Topic 922), broadcasters (Topic 920), and marketed software (Topic 985, Subtopic 720-35) are excluded (926-10-05-1, 15-1 through 15-3). The core measurement subtopic, 926-20, requires film costs (including production overhead and property/adaptation costs, but not administrative and general expenses) to be capitalized and reported as a separate balance sheet asset (926-20-25-1 through 25-5). The central idea is the predominant monetization strategy determined when capitalization begins: a film monetized on its own is amortized by the individual-film-forecast-computation method (current-period revenue ÷ estimated remaining unrecognized ultimate revenue at the beginning of the fiscal year), while a film in a film group is expensed based on a reasonably reliable estimate of its use (926-20-35-1 through 35-3C). Ultimate revenue estimates are revised each reporting date with prospective catch-up (926-20-35-3), are capped at 10 years from release (926-20-35-5), and unamortized costs are written down to fair value upon triggering events—write-downs may never be restored (926-20-35-13).

ASC 928-10 is the overview and scope gateway to the Entertainment—Music Topic, which supplies industry-specific accounting guidance for entities in the record and music business. It signposts the substantive subtopics addressed elsewhere in ASC 928: license agreements for music copyrights and record masters, artist compensation costs (including royalties paid to recording artists), the costs of producing record masters, and licensee accounting for fees and minimum guarantees (928-10-05-1). The single most important idea is that ASC 928 is only incremental guidance—entities within its scope, both licensors and licensees in the record and music industry, must still apply all other applicable GAAP (928-10-15-1; 928-10-15-2).

ASC 93X covers extractive activities, split between mining (Topic 930) and oil and gas (Topic 932). The digest here addresses ASC 930-10, the Overall subtopic for Extractive Activities—Mining, which defines the Topic's scope and mining industry terminology and identifies its six subtopics: Overall, Inventory, Property Plant and Equipment, Compensation—Retirement Benefits, Business Combinations, and Consolidation (930-10-05-1). The key idea is that this guidance is only incremental industry-specific guidance—mining entities must also comply with all other applicable GAAP outside the Topic (930-10-15-1)—and it applies to all mining entities except oil- and gas-producing entities, which instead follow Topic 932 (930-10-15-2; 930-10-15-3(a)).

ASC 93X covers extractive activities, split between Topic 932 (oil and gas) and Topic 930 (mining) (932-10-05-1). The Overall subtopic, ASC 932-10, defines the scope: it applies to all entities with oil- and gas-producing activities — the search for oil and gas, acquisition of property rights, and construction, drilling, and production activities (lifting, gathering, treating, field processing) needed to bring crude oil, natural gas, and synthetic-oil-source hydrocarbons from oil sands, shale, or coalbeds to the surface (932-10-15-2A) — while excluding transporting, refining, and marketing, processing by a nonproducer, other natural resources, geothermal steam, and interest capitalization under Topic 835 (932-10-15-3). The single most important idea is that this industry-specific guidance overrides the more general Codification Topics for the issues it addresses (932-10-05-3), though entities must still comply with other applicable guidance (932-10-15-1) and are not prohibited from using the full-cost method (932-10-15-4).

ASC 940 supplies the incremental, industry-specific GAAP for entities that are brokers and dealers in securities; the Overall subtopic (940-10) merely lists the Topic's subtopics and confirms that broker-dealers must also apply all other applicable GAAP outside the Topic (940-10-05-1; 15-1; 15-2). The substantive rules live in 940-20 (Broker-Dealer Activities), which is split into General, Clearing, and Underwriting Subsections covering commissions, soft dollars, agency transactions, fails, suspense accounts, trading errors, and underwriting commitments. The central idea is that agency transactions executed for customers stay off the broker-dealer's statement of financial condition unless they fail to settle on the contracted settlement date (940-20-25-1), with fails-to-deliver recorded as receivables at selling price and fails-to-receive as liabilities at purchase price, each including accrued interest (940-20-25-4; 30-1; 30-2). Commission income follows Topic 606 while the related expenses are accrued on trade date (940-20-25-2).

ASC 942-10 is the Overall subtopic of the Financial Services—Depository and Lending Topic; it fixes the Topic's scope and shows how its other subtopics (balance sheet, income statement, receivables, investments, income taxes, business combinations, consolidation, and more) are organized (942-10-05-1). The Topic covers banks, credit unions, finance and mortgage companies, savings institutions, bank and savings and loan holding companies, U.S.-regulated branches and agencies of foreign banks, and similar entities reporting under U.S. GAAP (942-10-15-2(a)-(i)), with "financial institution" defined at 942-10-15-3. The single most important idea is that Topic 942 supplies only incremental, industry-specific overlays — in-scope entities must still apply all otherwise applicable GAAP (942-10-15-1). Note that the Equity subparagraph 942-10-05-1(o) was superseded by ASU 2014-09.

ASC 944 (Financial Services—Insurance) supplies incremental, industry-specific GAAP for insurance entities, organized around the nature of the contract rather than the type of entity: 944-10 sets the scope and roadmap, and 944-20 classifies contracts as short-duration or long-duration (with universal life-type, participating, reinsurance risk-transfer, and financial guarantee sub-models). The measurement subtopics then follow the contract life cycle: 944-30 capitalizes and amortizes acquisition costs (only costs "related directly to the successful acquisition," 944-30-25-1A; constant-level amortization for long-duration contracts, 944-30-35-3A), 944-40 accrues unpaid claim liabilities when insured events occur and liabilities for future policy benefits when premium revenue is recognized (with post-ASU 2018-12 annual assumption updates through net income, an upper-medium-grade discount rate through OCI, and fair value market risk benefits), 944-50 accrues policyholder dividends, 944-60 requires premium deficiency/loss recognition when expected costs exceed unearned premiums or existing liabilities plus future gross premiums, and 944-80 governs separate accounts. The unifying idea is that contract classification at inception drives every later recognition, measurement, amortization, and loss-recognition decision, and contracts lacking significant insurance risk fall out of insurance accounting entirely (deposit or investment contract accounting).

ASC 946 is the specialized industry Topic for investment companies, which report their investments at fair value rather than consolidating or equity-method accounting. Subtopic 946-10 draws the scope line: entities regulated under the Investment Company Act of 1940 are automatically investment companies (946-10-15-4), while all others must have the two fundamental characteristics of 946-10-15-6 (obtaining funds from investors to provide investment management services solely for capital appreciation and/or investment income, and not obtaining returns not normally attributable to ownership) and are judged against five typical characteristics in 946-10-15-7; status is set at formation and revisited only on a change in purpose and design (946-10-25-1), with prospective treatment on loss of status and a cumulative-effect adjustment on gaining it (946-10-25-2 through 25-3). Subtopic 946-20 then prescribes the accounting for recurring fund activities — affiliate payments and credit enhancements, Rule 12b-1 distribution plans, expense limitation agreements, offering costs, and shareholder transactions — with heavy emphasis on where items appear in the statement of operations and financial highlights. The unifying idea is that qualifying as an investment company triggers a distinct fair-value-based reporting model whose presentation and disclosure conventions (single-line affiliate payment presentation, accrual of distributor excess costs but never an asset, offering-cost charge to paid-in capital) protect shareholders' understanding of fund performance.

ASC 948 provides incremental industry guidance for mortgage banking, and its Overall subtopic (948-10) frames the two interrelated activities that define the industry: originating or purchasing mortgage loans for sale to permanent investors, and servicing those loans long-term (948-10-05-4). Scope covers mortgage banking entities and the mortgage banking operations of other entities such as commercial banks and thrifts, but not their normal lending activities, and excludes commitments to originate loans held for sale and derivative-accounted purchase/sale commitments under Topic 815 (948-10-15-2 through 15-4). The only substantive requirements in the Overall subtopic are disclosures about minimum net worth (capital) requirements imposed by secondary market investors or state regulators—describing the requirement, whether the entity complies (with required and actual amounts at each balance sheet date), and the possible material effects of noncompliance (948-10-50-3 through 50-5). The key idea: ASC 948 supplements, rather than replaces, other applicable GAAP (e.g., loan and commitment fees follow Subtopic 310-20).

ASC 952 supplies the incremental, industry-specific GAAP for franchisors — entities that grant franchise rights to franchisees — and must be applied on top of, not instead of, all other applicable GAAP (952-10-15-1 through 15-3). Because ASU 2014-09 moved franchise fee revenue recognition to ASC 606 and contract cost capitalization to ASC 340-40, what remains in Topic 952 is guidance on franchising costs (costs of continuing franchise fees and regular, recurring indirect general, selling and administrative costs are expensed as incurred — 952-10-25-1; 952-10-25-2), presentation (when practicable, segregate costs of franchisor-owned outlets from those of franchised outlets — 952-10-45-1), and disclosure (outlet activity when changes are significant, plus significant commitments and obligations under agreements not yet substantially performed — 952-10-50-1; 952-10-50-2). The key idea: franchisors recognize revenue and capitalize incremental contract acquisition costs under the general revenue model, while Topic 952 governs cost expensing, franchised-versus-company-owned cost presentation, and franchise-specific disclosures.

ASC 954 is the industry Topic for health care entities, and its Overall subtopic (954-10) does the scoping work: it defines a health care entity as one whose principal operations consist of providing health care services with all or almost all revenues from the sale of goods or services (plus parent/holding companies that plan, organize, and oversee such entities) (954-10-15-1A), and lists covered entity types such as hospitals, clinics, medical group practices, CCRCs, HMOs, home health agencies, nursing homes, and integrated delivery systems (954-10-15-1B). The Topic applies only to investor-owned entities (private equity interests, profit objective) and not-for-profit, business-oriented entities that are essentially self-sustaining from fees charged for goods and services (954-10-05-2; 954-10-15-2); not-for-profit, non-business-oriented entities are voluntary health and welfare entities addressed by Topic 958 (954-10-15-3). The single most important idea is that Topic 954 is purely incremental: in-scope entities must also follow all other applicable GAAP, and NFP business-oriented health care entities additionally apply Topic 958 guidance on contributions, split-interest agreements, NFP financial statements, promises to give, NFP mergers and acquisitions, consolidation, and services received from personnel of an affiliate (954-10-15-1; 954-10-05-3; 954-10-05-4).

ASC 958 is the industry Topic for not-for-profit entities (NFPs), providing only incremental guidance layered on top of the rest of the Codification. Its scope subtopic (958-10) defines which nongovernmental entities are NFPs (excluding investor-owned entities and those distributing economic benefits proportionately to owners or members) and directs NFPs to apply other Topics in an analogous manner suited to the NFP reporting model. The specialized subtopics then address distinctive NFP transactions: transfers among financially interrelated entities (958-20), where the recipient records contribution revenue and the beneficiary records an equity-method-like interest in the recipient's net assets, and equity transactions when the provider names itself or an affiliate; and split-interest agreements (958-30), where irrevocable agreements are recognized at execution at fair value with contribution revenue equal to assets received less the fair value of amounts owed to other beneficiaries. The unifying idea is that the substance of a donor-imposed arrangement — who controls the assets, whether the arrangement is revocable or conditional, and whether the parties are financially interrelated — drives whether the NFP recognizes contribution revenue, a liability or refundable advance, or an interest in another entity's net assets.

ASC 960 governs financial reporting by the defined benefit pension plan itself (the employer's side is Topic 715), because the plan's net assets are the means of paying promised benefits. The Overall subtopic (960-10) sets a broad scope — all ongoing plans, funded or unfunded, ERISA or not, plus comparable non-U.S. plans reporting under U.S. GAAP — while not requiring any plan to issue financial statements. Two measurement pillars fit together: 960-20 measures the actuarial present value of accumulated plan benefits (benefits earned for service to the benefit information date, attributed under plan provisions or ratably, using pay and service as of that date and an ongoing-plan assumption), and 960-30 reports net assets available for benefits and changes in them on the accrual basis with prescribed minimum line items and a special one-line, deducted presentation for Section 401(h) account assets. 960-40 switches a plan to the liquidation basis under Subtopic 205-30 once liquidation is imminent, with benefits generally reported as vested and the terminating-plan or wasting-trust circumstances disclosed.

ASC 962 governs financial reporting by a defined contribution pension plan as a reporting entity in its own right, as distinguished from the sponsoring employer's accounting under Topic 715. The Overall subtopic (962-10) sets the objective—providing information useful in assessing the plan's present and future ability to pay benefits when due—and directs that net assets available for benefits, which equal the sum of participants' individual account balances, be measured at values meaningful to users, principally the amount a participant could currently withdraw, borrow, or transfer (962-10-10-1; 962-10-05-5 through 05-6). The Terminating Plans subtopic (962-40) requires the plan to switch to the liquidation basis of accounting under Subtopic 205-30 once liquidation is deemed imminent (962-40-25-1 through 25-2), and to disclose the circumstances in all subsequent financial statements once a termination decision is made or a wasting trust exists (962-40-50-1). The unifying idea is that because participants bear the investment risk in a defined contribution plan, plan reporting is oriented to participants' individual account values rather than to any promised benefit obligation.

ASC 965 sets out the special-purpose financial reporting model for health and welfare benefit plans as reporting entities in their own right (distinct from the sponsoring employer's accounting under Topic 715, and parallel to Topic 960 for defined benefit pension plans and Topic 962 for defined contribution pension plans). The Overall subtopic (965-10) fixes the scope—all defined benefit and defined contribution health and welfare plans—and explains that whether benefits are insured or self-funded through a trust (VEBA/501(c)(9), 401(h) account, master trust) drives how assets and obligations are accounted for. The two core statements are then built up: 965-20 covers net assets available for benefits and the changes in them (accrue non-benefit liabilities, record noncash contributions at fair value less costs to sell, show contributions by source, net appreciation/depreciation, claims and premiums, and administrative expenses), while 965-30 covers the plan's own benefit obligations, measured at actuarial present value as of the plan year end in three classifications with a reconciliation of year-to-year changes. 965-40 overrides this ongoing-plan model when liquidation is imminent, requiring the liquidation basis of accounting under Subtopic 205-30 and measurement of benefit obligations on that basis.

ASC 970 is the Real Estate—General industry Topic, and its Overall subtopic (970-10) simply maps where the industry guidance lives (cash flows, equity method/joint ventures, other assets and deferred costs, PP&E, debt, other expenses, consolidation, interest) and fixes the scope. The critical framing idea is that the Topic is only incremental: entities with productive activities relating to real property must apply all other applicable GAAP and look to ASC 970 only for industry-specific add-ons (970-10-15-1), and property used primarily in an entity's non-real estate operations is outside the scope (970-10-15-3). The guidance splits into three Subsections—General (real estate ventures, general and limited partnerships, corporate joint ventures, tax increment financing entities, investor-lender interest on loans/advances), Real Estate Syndication (income recognition), and Real Estate Project Costs (preacquisition, taxes and insurance, project costs, amenities, incidental operations, cost allocation, revisions of estimates, abandonments and changes in use, selling and rental costs, and impairment write-downs under the Subtopic 360-10 Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets Subsections) (970-10-05-4; 970-10-15-11). Students should also note the carve-outs in 970-10-15-8 and 15-9 and that ASU 2014-09 superseded the old real estate sales revenue guidance, moving it into Topic 606.

ASC 972 is the real estate topic devoted to common interest realty associations (CIRAs) — owner associations such as homeowners' and condominium associations, time-share associations, planned-unit developments, and cooperative housing corporations. The Overall subtopic (972-10) sets scope and background, explaining that the Codification divides real estate guidance among several subindustry topics (Real Estate—General, CIRAs, REITs, Time-Sharing Activities, and Retail Land), with sale-leaseback sales of real estate addressed in Subtopic 842-40 (972-10-05-1). A CIRA is defined by individual ownership of a lot, interior space, or shares of stock; an undivided interest in common property subject to covenant, restriction, or contract; automatic membership in a state-law association; and funding through periodic assessments of all owners (972-10-05-3 through 05-4). The single most important idea is that Topic 972 supplies only incremental, industry-specific guidance — CIRAs must still comply with all other applicable GAAP (972-10-15-1).

ASC 974 provides incremental, industry-specific guidance for Real Estate Investment Trusts, layered on top of all otherwise applicable GAAP (974-10-15-1). The Overall Subtopic maps the REIT Topic's structure—Overall, Investments—Equity Method and Joint Ventures, Other Expenses, Consolidation, Interest, and Leases (974-10-05-2)—and situates it among the other real estate Topics (General, Common Interest Realty Associations, Time-Sharing, Retail Land), with sale-leaseback sales of real estate handled in Subtopic 842-40 (974-10-05-1). Scope reaches all REITs, whether or not they elected the federal tax treatment that avoids corporate income tax by distributing at least 90 percent of taxable income to shareholders (974-10-05-4; 974-10-15-2). The key takeaway: REIT guidance supplements rather than replaces general GAAP, and effective for annual periods beginning with the June 30, 2027 transition date, a REIT must disclose the tax status of distributions per unit—ordinary income, capital gain, and return of capital (974-10-50-1).

ASC 97X covers the real estate industry Topics, and this digest focuses on ASC 976, Real Estate—Retail Land, and specifically its Overall Subtopic (976-10). Retail land sales are high-volume sales of lots subdivided from large tracts, made with very small down payments and a sales contract or buyer's note for the balance that a local bank or S&L would not lend against at market rates or buy without a substantial discount, and where the seller cannot enforce against the buyer's general credit (976-10-05-2; 976-10-15-3). The Topic's Subtopics (Overall, Receivables, Inventory, and Cost of Sales and Services) supply only incremental industry-specific guidance, so entities in scope must also apply all other applicable GAAP (976-10-15-1); the former Revenue Recognition subtopic reference was superseded by ASU 2014-09. The key takeaway is scope discipline: sales of lots to builders, sales of homes/buildings/parcels, in-substance real estate sales of stock, partnership or time-sharing interests, and sales of options to purchase real estate are all excluded (976-10-15-4), and sale-leaseback of real estate is addressed in Subtopic 842-40.

ASC 978 supplies incremental, industry-specific guidance for real estate time-sharing activities; entities in its scope must still apply all other applicable GAAP (978-10-15-1). The Overall subtopic (978-10) defines the covered transaction structures — fee simple sales, sales where title remains with or reverts to the seller, and reseller transactions — and excludes time-sharing in other long-lived assets such as cruise ships, corporate jets, and transportation equipment (978-10-15-2 through 15-5). It also requires a seller to delineate the time-share project and its phases at the outset and account for each phase separately (978-10-15-6; 978-10-25-1), and it tests whether a transaction is in substance a sale of real estate by looking at the entire real estate component (land plus improvements and integral equipment) without bifurcation (978-10-15-7), with equipment "integral" when removal cost plus the decrease in fair value from removal exceeds 10 percent of the installed fair value (978-10-15-8 through 15-11). The core idea: time-sharing sales — marked by high-volume homogeneous intervals, seller financing, heavy selling and marketing costs, and recovery of the interval with buyer principal forfeiture on default (978-10-05-5) — are accounted for as real estate sales, phase by phase.

ASC 980 provides incremental GAAP for entities whose rates are cost-based and set by an independent regulator, on the theory that the economic effects of rate regulation — not regulation itself — justify departing from general GAAP. Under 980-10, operations meeting all three criteria of 980-10-15-2 (independent third-party regulator sets rates, rates designed to recover the specific entity's costs, and rates can reasonably be charged to and collected from customers) recognize regulatory assets and liabilities when a regulator shifts cost recovery to a different period, treating a recoverable incurred cost like a cost reimbursable under a cost-reimbursement-type contract (980-10-05-5, 05-6). ASC 980-20 is the mirror image: when operations (or a separable portion, such as a jurisdiction or customer class) cease to meet 980-10-15-2, the entity eliminates regulatory assets and liabilities that entities in general could not recognize, leaves plant, equipment, and inventory carrying amounts alone unless impaired under 360-10, and reports the net adjustment in income of the period of discontinuation, separately within continuing operations as an unusual or infrequently occurring item (980-20-40-2, 40-4). The key idea: regulatory assets and liabilities exist only so long as cost-based recovery is probable, and they disappear — through income — when that regulatory support ends.

ASC 985 provides incremental industry-specific guidance for computer software to be sold, leased, or otherwise marketed, either as a separate product or as part of a product or process; entities in scope must still apply all other applicable GAAP (985-10-15-1). The Overall Subtopic (985-10) sets the scope umbrella and carves out internal-use software (Subtopic 350-40) and arrangements requiring significant production, modification, or customization of software (Topic 606 and Subtopic 340-40) (985-10-15-3). The core of the Topic is 985-20, which makes technological feasibility the dividing line: costs incurred to establish it are R&D expensed as incurred (985-20-25-1), while costs of producing product masters thereafter are capitalized (985-20-25-3) until the product is available for general release (985-20-25-6). Capitalized costs are then amortized product-by-product at the greater of the revenue-ratio or straight-line amount (985-20-35-1) and written down to net realizable value at each balance sheet date, with write-downs never restored (985-20-35-4).