Reports

GASB stands for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. It is an independent organization that establishes and improves standards of accounting and financial reporting for U.S. state and local governments. GASB is recognized by governments, the accounting industry, and the capital markets as the official source of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for state and local governments. Click www.gasb.org for additional information.

GASB 68 is a new pension reporting requirement adopted by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board that changes the way government entities that offer defined benefit plans report pension liabilities. Agent employers are required to put the new standards into effect beginning in fiscal years ending June 30, 2015, and later.

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Although the new requirement will provide an accurate picture of all future costs, it may initially cause confusion when reviewing financial statements. Before GASB 68, government entities were only required to include the yearly employer contributions as an expense on their financial statements, and the long-term cost of benefits, called Unfunded Accrued Liability, was included in the notes section of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). Under GASB 68, government entities will be required to include a new calculation of the long-term cost of benefits, called Net Pension Liability, as a liability on their balance sheet.

While a government entity’s pension numbers may seem different under the new requirement, the financial situation of the retirement plan has not actually changed. In simplest terms, only the method of reporting has changed, not the actual financial situation.

You may access the DARS Schedule of Pension Amounts by Employer by clicking on below links:

For more information, a free GASB 68 toolkit is available online at: https://www.gasb.org/jsp/GASB/GASB Content_C/GASBNewsPage&cid=1176163888070.