Other Equity

Category

Balance Sheet

Units

Currency

US-GAAP elements

AccumulatedOtherComprehensiveIncomeLossNetOfTax

Reference

Regulation S-X Rule 5-02.30 (Other stockholders' equity)

Source

Reported in SEC EDGAR filings (US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy)

Other equity is the part of stockholders' equity that falls outside the main captions of common stock, additional paid-in capital, retained earnings, treasury stock, and preferred stock. It is a residual grouping that collects the remaining components of shareholders' equity into one figure.

The largest item in it is usually accumulated other comprehensive income, which holds gains and losses that bypass the income statement, such as foreign-currency translation adjustments, certain pension adjustments, unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale debt securities, and the effective portion of cash-flow hedges. Other items can include unearned compensation for employee stock ownership plans and other capital adjustments.

Regulation S-X Rule 5-02.30 requires separate captions within other stockholders' equity for additional paid-in capital, other additional capital, retained earnings split between appropriated and unappropriated, and accumulated other comprehensive income. Other equity, as a data field, gathers whatever is left after the principal captions are separated out, so its exact contents depend on the company's presentation and on how the lines are mapped. In XBRL filings, accumulated other comprehensive income is tagged AccumulatedOtherComprehensiveIncomeLossNetOfTax; StockholdersEquityOther, by contrast, is a movement element for the statement of changes in equity, not a balance.

Accumulated other comprehensive income exists because some changes in value are recognized in equity rather than in net income under US GAAP. Those amounts are reclassified to earnings later when the underlying event occurs, for example when a hedged transaction happens, a security is sold, or a foreign subsidiary is disposed of. Companies disclose the balance by component and the amounts reclassified each period.

Other equity can swing sharply with markets, particularly for companies with large foreign operations, bond portfolios, or pension plans, which moves book value without affecting earnings. Analysts watch it for that reason. Banks and insurers can show large negative balances when interest rates rise and the value of their bond holdings falls. Because these amounts can eventually flow through earnings, a large accumulated loss is worth understanding before relying on reported book value.