GASB issues new accounting, financial reporting standards

The Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has issued new standards of accounting and financial reporting that will affect all counties and are intended to improve the clarity and consistency of the fund balance information provided to financial report users.

GASB Statement No. 54,Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions, is designed to improve this information by providing clearer, more structured fund balance classifications and by clarifying the definitions of existing governmental fund types.  

GASB developed Statement 54 to address the diversity of practice and the resulting lack of consistency that has evolved in this widely used area of state and local government financial reports. The new standards establish a hierarchy of fund balance classifications — how resources reported in governmental funds may be used.

Governments are required to implement Statement 54 for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2010.

A news release, plain-language article and fact sheet on Statement 54 may be accessed through the GASB’s Web site. Statement 54 (product code GS54) can be ordered through the GASB’s order department at 800/748-0659 or online at www.gasb.org.

GASB Seeks information from County OPEB Implementers

The GASB has dedicated a portion of its Web site to its “other post-employment benefits” (OPEB) standards. Choose “OPEB” on the left side of the homepage to access audits already available online. This section of the Web site, the Statements 43/45 Resource Center, includes a list of governments that have already implemented the standards. There are currently no county governments on the site.

If you have implemented statements 43 or 45, or both, you are encouraged to include it on the site, please notify the GASB by contacting Kip Betz via e-mail at jcbetz@gasb.org.