benchmark interest rate

Broad Transactions2

1. 815-20Hedging—General815 Derivatives and Hedging

   ASC 815-20 sets the general "gatekeeping" rules for hedge accounting that apply to all three hedge types — fair value, cash flow, and net investment hedges. It requires formal designation and documentation at hedge inception (risk management objective, hedging instrument, hedged item, hedged risk, and the effectiveness assessment method), and it specifies which items and transactions may be designated as hedged items, which risks may be designated as the hedged risk, which instruments may be hedging instruments, and how effectiveness must be assessed. Items outside those criteria (e.g., equity method investments, most intra-entity transactions, an entity's own equity) simply cannot be hedged for accounting purposes.

2. 815-25Fair Value Hedges815 Derivatives and Hedging

   ASC 815-25 supplies the incremental accounting rules for fair value hedges that qualify under the designation criteria in ASC 815-20. The core mechanic (815-25-35-1) is that the gain or loss on the hedging instrument goes to current earnings, and the change in fair value of the hedged item attributable to the hedged risk adjusts the hedged item's carrying amount and also goes to current earnings, both presented in the same income statement line item as the hedged item's earnings effect; any mismatch therefore falls automatically into earnings. The Subtopic also governs basis adjustments and their amortization, portfolio layer method hedges of closed portfolios, interaction with impairment/credit loss rules, and mandatory or voluntary discontinuation of hedge accounting.