unusual or infrequently occurring item

ASC 715-930 governs how coal industry entities account for postretirement medical and death benefit obligations imposed by the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act of 1992, which assigns beneficiaries (and a share of "orphan" beneficiaries) of the UMWA Combined Benefit Fund to former signatories of coal wage agreements. Entities still operating in the coal industry may elect to account for the obligation either as participation in a multiemployer plan or as a liability imposed by the Act; entities electing liability treatment, and all entities no longer operating in the coal industry, must recognize the entire obligation as a loss under Subtopic 450-20 (715-930-25-1). Losses so recognized are presented as an unusual or infrequently occurring item, and the impact of the Act must be disclosed.

ASC 980-10 sets the overall scope and framework for accounting by entities with rate-regulated operations. Because regulators sometimes allow costs into rates in a period different from when an unregulated entity would expense them, the rate-making process can create assets (regulatory assets), reduce assets, or create liabilities; an incurred cost the regulator permits to be recovered in a future period is accounted for like a cost reimbursable under a cost-reimbursement-type contract (980-10-05-5, 05-6). The Topic applies only to operations meeting the three criteria in 980-10-15-2 and provides incremental industry guidance that overrides conflicting guidance elsewhere in the Codification.

ASC 980-20 governs what happens when an entity's operations (or a separable portion of them) stop meeting the criteria in 980-10-15-2 for rate-regulated accounting — because of deregulation, a shift away from cost-based rate-making, or competition/rate resistance. On discontinuation, the entity eliminates from its balance sheet all regulatory assets and liabilities that entities in general could not recognize, but does not adjust the carrying amounts of plant, equipment, and inventory unless impaired under Subtopic 360-10. The net adjustment goes to income of the period of discontinuation, classified separately within income from continuing operations as an unusual or infrequently occurring item.