Accounting for Real Estate Transactions: A Guide For Public Accountants and Corporate Financial Professionals, 2nd Edition

Preface

What is real estate? Land and structures, brick and mortar to some, a bundle of rights and obligations to others. Real estate can be sold outright or it can be securitized. Investors can buy real estate properties or invest in real estate investment trusts. The many facets of real estate and the size of the real estate market—trillions of U.S. dollars in the United States alone—make it so intriguing.

The past few years were marred by a global financial crisis and depressed real estate markets throughout the United States. Homebuilders let real estate purchase options expire; homeowners walked away from their homes or lost them in foreclosures; and corporate investors handed the keys to commercial real estate properties to the lenders that had granted loans on a nonrecourse basis.

Accounting for Real Estate Transactions addresses accounting issues that have become prevalent in the wake of the crumbling real estate markets, such as impairment and consolidation considerations for special-purpose entities. It is a comprehensive reference guide that provides financial professionals with a tool to evaluate the accounting consequences of specific deals, enabling them to structure transactions with the accounting consequences in mind and to account for them in accordance with U.S. GAAP. It helps members of audit committees and oversight boards better understand the applicable accounting literature, assess the proper application of the accounting rules, and evaluate the conclusions ...