Small change in US accounting rules could have big impact on compliance

A TSUNAMI of change is coming to the regulations that govern corporate America, if President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress get their way.

But there is also a little-noticed change coming down the pike that will have a major impact on business. And this one has corporate executives up in arms - and scrambling to comply.

It's a new accounting rule promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, known as FASB. The rule, with the blandly mellifluous title "Financial Instruments - Overall: Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities," or Accounting Standards Update 2016-01, will change the way companies, both big and small, account for their equity investments in other companies, specifically for those stakes smaller than 20 per cent.