Abbildung konventioneller Asset Backed Securities-Transaktionen im IFRS-Abschluss - Anwendung und kritische Würdigung des Abgangs- und Abbildungskonzepts von IAS 39 und SIC-12 unter Berücksichtigung von Fortentwicklungsmöglichkeiten und Aspekten der Abschlussprüfung

The document deals with the accounting for asset backed securities under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Such transactions involve the sale of financial assets (usually receivables) by the originator of these assets to a special purpose entity. To finance the purchase price, the special purpose entity issues commercial papers or similar debt instruments to outside investors. What makes asset backed securities transactions an interesting issue from an accounting perspective is that, even after the sale, the originator maintains an ongoing, ownership-type relationship to the transferred assets. In particular, the originator continues to bear the credit risk associated with the receivables. Therefore, the question arises whether, or to which extent, the originator should derecognize in its financial statements those assets that it legally transferred, but to the risks and rewards of which it continues to be exposed. This question includes whether consolidation of the special purpose entity by the originator might be required.Applying the criteria of IAS 39 and SIC-12 leads the author to the conclusion that currently the originator would usually be prohibited from derecognizing the assets sold in their entirety. Rather, asset backed securities transactions have to be accounted for as a secured borrowing or pursuant to the so-called continuing involvement approach. The further analysis demonstrates, however, that this accounting treatment entails severe conceptual shortcomings. Especially, the financial statements do not reflect the actual economic resources of the originator, lack comparability through time and cannot be compared to the financial statements of other entities with identical economic position. Hence, the current concept fails to satisfy the information needs of financial statement users. Instead the financial components approach can be identified as an alternative that would overcome most of today’s deficits.