Interpretation of SFAS No. 143, "Accounting for Conditional Asset Retirement Obligations: An Interpretation of FASB Statement No. 143"
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Charlotte Wright
SFAS No. 143 requires that companies recognize liabilities for asset retirement obligations in the period in which the obligation is incurred if a reasonable estimate of fair value can be made and defames the term retirement as being the other-than-temporary removal of a long-lived asset from service via sale, abandonment, recycling, or disposal, but not the temporary idling of such asset. Numerous questions have arisen regarding the timing of recognition of the asset retirement obligation liability when the performance of the retirement activity is conditional on a future event. On June 17, 2004, the F ASB issued an exposure draft for a proposed interpretation of SFAS No. 143, "Accounting for Conditional Asset Retirement Obligations: An Interpretation of F ASB Statement No. 143."
Interpretation of SFAS No. 143, "Accounting for Conditional Asset Retirement Obligations: An Interpretation of FASB Statement No. 143". Wright, Charlotte, Fall/Winter 2004, pp. 95‑97.