Issued: March 25, 2011
Impact: All US GAAP

Issue

In some cases, we have noticed that the PreferredStockMember is used as a class of stock on the StatementClassOfStockAxis, and is absent from the StatementEquityComponentsAxis. The StatementEquityComponentAxis represents the components of stockholders’ equity and should include preferred stock, if it exists.

Recommendation

When defining the statement of shareholders’ equity, members that are defined on the StatementEquityComponentsAxis should NOT also be defined on the StatementClassOfStockAxis (such as preferred stock) as the item is already represented on the StatementEquityComponentAxis (when represented in the same hypercube). The Class of Stock Axis should have members that represent the individual preferred stock issues.