The Financial Accounting Standards Board approved the staff’s wording of a tentative decision in January for its amendement to Statement 125, Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities. At that time the board decided after a close vote that bankers could continue to treat removal-of-account provisions with a free hand. The board said bankers can get back accounts in three instances: if they are chosen at random, if they default, and if they are in an affiliate account and the affiliation is lost. Tim Lucas, FASB’s technical director, said there was some doubt that the staff would be able to "capture what the board had in mind" after its last meeting. The board approved the staff’s general direction, tinkered with some wording, and moved some other language from the body of the amendment to the implentation guide at the end. Another paragraph due for some tinkering was put off to a later time, Lucas said.

The much-awaited amendment has been controversial and is not expected to make its first-quarter deadline.