Intangibles—Goodwill and Other— Internal-Use Software ...

1 intangibles goodwill and other Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40) No. 2015-05 April 2015 Customer s Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement An Amendment of the FASB Accounting standards Codification The FASB Accounting standards Codification is the source of authoritative generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) recognized by the FASB to be applied by nongovernmental entities. An Accounting standards Update is not authoritative; rather, it is a document that communicates how the Accounting standards Codification is being amended.

2 It also provides other information to help a user of GAAP understand how and why GAAP is changing and when the changes will be effective. For additional copies of this Accounting standards Update and information on applicable prices and discount rates contact: Order Department financial Accounting standards Board 401 Merritt 7 PO Box 5116 Norwalk, CT 06856-5116 Please ask for our Product Code No. ASU2015-05. financial ACCOUNTING SERIES (ISSN 0885-9051) is published quarterly by the financial Accounting Foundation. Periodicals postage paid at Norwalk, CT and at additional mailing offices.

3 The full subscription rate is $242 per year. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to financial Accounting standards Board, 401 Merritt 7, PO Box 5116, Norwalk, CT 06856-5116. | No. 412 Copyright 2015 by financial Accounting Foundation. All rights reserved. Content copyrighted by financial Accounting Foundation may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the financial Accounting Foundation.

4 financial Accounting Foundation claims no copyright in any portion hereof that constitutes a work of the United States Government. An Amendment of the FASB Accounting standards Codification No. 2015-05 April 2015 intangibles goodwill and other Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40) Customer s Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement Accounting standards UpdateFinancial Accounting standards Board Accounting standards Update 2015-05 intangibles goodwill and other Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40) Customer s Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement April 2015 CONTENTS Page Numbers Summary.

5 1 2 Amendments to the FASB Accounting standards Codification .. 3 6 Background Information and Basis for Conclusions .. 7 10 Amendments to the XBRL Taxonomy .. 11 1 Summary Why Is the FASB Issuing This Accounting standards Update (Update)? The Board is issuing the amendments in this Update as part of its Simplification Initiative. The objective of the Simplification Initiative is to identify, evaluate, and improve areas of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for which cost and complexity can be reduced while maintaining or improving the usefulness of the information provided to users of the financial statements.

6 Existing GAAP does not include explicit guidance about a customer s accounting for fees paid in a cloud computing arrangement. Examples of cloud computing arrangements include Software as a service, platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, and other similar hosting arrangements. The Board heard from stakeholders that the absence of explicit guidance resulted in some diversity in practice as well as unnecessary costs and complexity for some stakeholders to evaluate the accounting for those fees. The Board decided to add guidance to Subtopic 350-40, intangibles goodwill and other Internal-Use Software , which will help entities evaluate the accounting for fees paid by a customer in a cloud computing arrangement.

7 The guidance already exists in the FASB Accounting standards Codification in paragraphs 985-605-55-121 through 55-123, but it is included in a Subtopic applied by cloud service providers to determine whether an arrangement includes the sale or license of Software . The amendments in this Update provide guidance to customers about whether a cloud computing arrangement includes a Software license. If a cloud computing arrangement includes a Software license, then the customer should account for the Software license element of the arrangement consistent with the acquisition of other Software licenses.

8 If a cloud computing arrangement does not include a Software license, the customer should account for the arrangement as a service contract. The guidance will not change GAAP for a customer s accounting for service contracts. In addition, the guidance in this Update supersedes paragraph 350-40-25-16. Consequently, all Software licenses within the scope of Subtopic 350-40 will be accounted for consistent with other licenses of intangible assets. What Are the Transition Requirements and When Are the Amendments Effective? For public business entities, the Board decided that the amendments will be effective for annual periods, including interim periods within those annual periods, 2 beginning after December 15, 2015.

9 For all other entities, the amendments will be effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2015, and interim periods in annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016. Early adoption is permitted for all entities. An entity can elect to adopt the amendments either (1) prospectively to all arrangements entered into or materially modified after the effective date or (2) retrospectively. For prospective transition, the only disclosure requirements at transition are the nature of and reason for the change in accounting principle, the transition method, and a qualitative description of the financial statement line items affected by the change.

10 For retrospective transition, the disclosure requirements at transition include the requirements for prospective transition and quantitative information about the effects of the accounting change. 3 Amendments to the FASB Accounting standards Codification Introduction 1. The Accounting standards Codification is amended as described in paragraphs 2 6. In some cases, to put the change in context, not only are the amended paragraphs shown but also the preceding and following paragraphs. Terms from the Master Glossary are in bold type.