sponsoring corporation hives off assets or activities from the rest of the company into an SPE. This isolation of assets is important for providing comfort to investors. The assets or activities are distanced from the parent company, hence the performance of the new entity will not be affected by the ups and downs of the originating entity. The SPE will be subject to fewer risks and thus provide greater comfort to the lenders. What is important here is the distance between the sponsoring company and the SPE. In the absence of adequate distance between the sponsor and the new entity, the latter will not be an SPE but only a subsidiary company. A good SPE should be able to stand on its feet, independent of the sponsoring company. Unfortunately, this does not always happen in practice. One of the reasons for the collapse of the Enron SPE was that it became a vehicle for furthering the ends of the parent company in violation of the prudential norms of corporate financing and accounting. Abuses Special-purpose entities were one of the main tools used by executives at Enron, in order to hide losses and fabricate earnings, resulting in the Enron scandal of 2001. They were also used to hide losses and overstate earnings by executives at Towers Financial Corporation, which declared bankruptcy in 1994. Several executives of the company were found guilty of securities fraud, served prison sentences, and paid fines. Evergrande has also been accused of using off book SPE to hide debt. Accounting guidance Under US GAAP, a number of accounting standards apply to SPEs, most notably FIN 46R that sets out the consolidation treatment of these entities. There are a number of other standards that apply to different transactions with SPEs. Under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the relevant standard is IAS 27 in connection with the interpretation of SIC12 (Consolidation—Special-Purpose Entities). For periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013, IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements supersedes IAS 27 and SIC 12. See also Enron FIN 46 (FASB ruling on consolidation of variable interest entities) Instex, a special purpose vehicle intended to promote trade with Iran without using the US dollar and evade sanctions against Iran. Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Off-balance-sheet entity Orphan structure Special-purpose acquisition company Special purpose private equity fund, similarly named business term Stichting Structured investment vehicle Variable interest entity (VIE) Notes References