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Off-Balance Sheet Financing Vehicles – Restructuring Problems

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Off-balance Sheet Financing Vehicles – Restructuring Problems
When something collapses, there are always some things to blame on; and for the financial crisis erupted August 2007, people blamed it on off-balance sheet financing vehicles. Special purpose entities (SPEs), structured investment vehicles (SIVs), or variable interest entities (VIE) are different terms used for “off-balance sheet financing” practices that banks had used to hide their debts until the recent market meltdown. This paper will briefly discuss the genuine problem causing the collapse in financial system, what actions have been taken by the policy makers, and whether or not those actions will work. 1. The rise and fall of SIVs Even though question for the …show more content…

This proposal when being implemented would limit companies from the so-called balance sheet “window-dressing”. In other words, instead of only seeing year-end amount of short-term borrowings under the current SEC rules, investors would be able to see the ongoing liquidity and leverage risk of a company by comparing the average and maximum amounts outstanding throughout the reporting period (SEC, 2010). * The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB): The board has issued new rules on reporting off-balance-sheet entities in Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No.166 (FAS 166) – Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets and Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No.167 (FAS 167) – Amendments to FASB Interpretation No. 46(R). The FAS 166 eliminated the concept of a qualifying special-purpose entity, set new restrictions in financial asset derecognition, and required companies to disclose all information of its involvements and risk exposure with transferred financial assets (FASB, 2009). FAS 167 requires an ongoing reconsideration of whether the enterprise’s variable interests give it a controlling financial interest in a variable interest entity in contrast to former guidance which only requires consolidating decision when specific events. It also replaces the former quantitative-based model by a qualitative approach to determine the extent

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