More than six months after adopting new standards governing off-balance-sheet activity and consolidation of variable interest entities, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has at last added them to the Accounting Standards Codification, making them officially part of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

FASB adopted Financial Accounting Standard No. 166: Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets in June to end widespread off-balance-sheet treatment of securitized assets, most notably failing loans that were changing hands beyond the view of investors. At the same time, it adopted FAS 167: Amendments to FASB Interpretation No. 46R to give new direction on when a company should consolidate a special purpose entity, or add it to the parent company’s balance sheet.

FAS 166 is now codified under Topic 860 Transfers and Servicing as Update No. 2009-16. FAS 167 is codified under Topic 810 Consolidations as Update No. 2009-17.

FASB adopted the Accounting Standards Codification as the sole authority for all U.S. GAAP in July 2009. The Codification organizes all of GAAP by topic rather than by historical accounting pronouncements that were organized chronologically as issued.

At a recent accounting conference, FASB Project Manager Chris Roberge said the delay in getting FAS 166 and FAS 167 codified was only administrative in nature. Financial institutions have grimaced over the new accounting guidance because it will increase the level of assets and liabilities carried on their balance sheets.

The Federal Reserve took note of the new guidance when it was issued in June, saying it would have a “material effect” on the accounting for off-balance-sheet entities. The Fed said it was reviewing regulatory capital requirements associated with adopting the new standards and it advised banks to take the new rules into account in their own internal capital planning processes. Banks should “assess whether additional capital may be necessary to support the risks associated with vehicles affected by the new accounting standards,” the Fed said.