Financial Reporting Manual

Welcome to the Division of Corporation Finance’s Financial Reporting Manual (FRM).

Disclaimer: This Manual was originally prepared by the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance to serve as internal guidance. In 2008, in an effort to increase transparency of informal staff interpretations, the Division posted a version of the Manual to its website. Because of its informal nature, the Manual does not necessarily contain a discussion of all material considerations necessary to reach an accounting or disclosure conclusion. Such conclusions about a particular transaction are very fact dependent and require careful analysis of the transaction and of the relevant authoritative accounting literature and Commission requirements. The information in this Manual is non-authoritative. If it conflicts with authoritative or source material, the authoritative or source material governs. The information presented also may not reflect the views of other Divisions and Offices at the Commission. The guidance is not a rule, regulation or statement of the Commission and the Commission has neither approved nor disapproved this information. The information included in this Manual may be updated from time to time and positions may change. As a result, some of the information in this manual may not be up to date.

Summary of most recent changes and PDF

Summary of changes in current update

Sections of the Financial Reporting Manual have been updated as of December 31, 2022.  These sections have been marked with the date tag, “Last updated: 12/31/2022,” to identify the changes.  Previous updates are marked using the same convention and represent the last revision to that section.  We include a date tag when the change is significant.  Changes that are administrative in nature (for example, section reference updates or grammatical improvements) are not marked with a date tag.

Below is a summary of significant changes included in this update.  Clicking the linked section number will direct you to the location of the change in the document.  You may click on the embedded link in the document to return to this page.

This update does not include changes for the following rulemakings, Amendments to Financial Disclosures about Acquired and Disposed Businesses, Qualifications of Accountants, and Management’s Discussion and Analysis, Selected Financial Data, and Supplementary Financial Information.  For questions related to these amendments, please contact the individual(s) listed on the related rulemaking.