For companies wondering where to begin to inventory interests in other business units and comply with new ways to account for them, a Big 4 firm guide may be helpful.

To correct widespread problems with off-balance sheet accounting, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has finalized new rules for how companies must account for their ownership interest in variable interest entities. Financial Accounting Standard No. 167 was issued in July and is scheduled to take effect for fiscal and interim reporting periods beginning after Nov. 15, although FASB has not yet added it to the Accounting Standards Codification. A FASB spokesman said that update is expected soon.

A recent alert from PricewaterhouseCoopers gives companies an action plan, outlining various things to do or consider doing to get ready for the new rules. It also provides something of a timeline to give companies a sense of the relative order of events and the amount of time they might require to complete.

PwC says the adoption of FAS 167 may require a number of important changes to a company’s accounting policies, financial statement disclosures, processes for gathering data, and internal controls over financial reporting. The alert also raises issues companies must consider with respect to debt covenants, compensation, and communication with various stakeholders, PwC says.

The nine-step action plan—which companies may need to follow closely or loosely depending on their particular business structures—touches on internal communication, development of an implementation plan, inventorying all variable interest entities, and assessing the impact of FAS 167 on other issues, such as transaction structures, equity or regulatory capital, financial ratios, performance measures, compensation policies, and others.

The action plan also addresses modifying accounting policies, assessing accounting records for variable interest entities that may need to be consolidated, preparing draft financial statements, changing or developing internal controls, and modifying systems.