The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the 2023 edition of its Bank Accounting Advisory Series (BAAS) publication in August 2023. This publication expresses the OCC's views on a variety of accounting topics relevant to the financial institutions industry. Changes in the 2023 edition included adding new questions, many of which relate to loan modifications. This edition was also updated to assume that financial institutions have adopted Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, and ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842). Various topics and subtopics were removed, relocated or otherwise revised as a result of the implementation of these standards.
The BAAS does not represent official rules or regulations of the OCC, but rather interpretations of generally accepted accounting principles and guidance based on facts and circumstances, presented in an FAQ format. While the OCC regulates certain banks, the concepts and interpretive guidance included in the BAAS may be relevant to other regulated banks and credit unions, as well as non-regulated financial institutions such as mortgage companies and specialty finance companies. Information in this publication does not replace the guidance found in the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Accounting Standards Codification, but may be used as additional guidance when researching accounting topics specific to the financial institutions industry.
