SPACs Stumble on Accounting Rules for Backup Financing Deals

Thorny accounting issues continue to dog the once hot blank-check market.

The latest: how to account for certain types of backup funding arrangements used by special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, to ensure their deals to take companies public go through even if investors bail.

Three companies that went public via SPAC merger in the past month have flagged errors serious enough to require restating, or redoing, their past financial statements, recent filings show.

The companies—hearing loss devicemaker Envoy Medical Inc., renewable energy technology firm Electriq Power Holdings Inc., and biopharmaceutical company Ocean Biomedical Inc.—said they tripped ...