GASB Proposes Extensive Effort to Review
Current Disclosure Requirements
On June 30, the GASB issued a proposed
statement that would establish, modify and rescind some
current requirements to disclose information in the notes
to state and local government financial statements. The
exposure draft, Certain Financial Statement Note
Disclosures, is the first proposal to result from
the GASB's far-reaching endeavor to review all existing
note disclosure requirements to ensure they continue to
be useful and relevant to the needs of financial
statement users.
The ED would rescind the current
requirement to report the method a government uses for
encumbrances, and would also eliminate the recommendation
to report certain budgetary information. Prominent among
new note disclosures proposed are requirements to provide
more complete information about amounts due to and from a
government's funds at the end of the fiscal period and
about financial transfers among those funds during the
year. Another proposal would lead to more detailed
information about future debt service and lease payments.
The ED also proposes note disclosures
regarding: actions taken to remedy significant violations
of finance-related legal or contractual provisions;
short-term debt activity; better explanations of the
activities accounted for in financial statement columns;
and details about significant individual accounts that
are aggregated within larger balances in the financial
statements.
In addition to the ED, a plain-language
supplement is available to enable a greater share of the
public to participate knowledgeably in the
standards-setting activities of this project. The
supplement—the first produced by the
GASB—presents the proposed statement using less
technical language and focuses on the impact it would
have on the information users will find in financial
statements.
The 90-day comment period on the ED
ends Sept. 29. The GASB invites written comment on its
proposals. The public may provide additional feedback by
speaking at one of three public hearings and a special
forum scheduled for the fall on Sept. 19 in Tempe, Ariz.,
Oct. 10 in New York City (including the forum), and Nov.
15 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
During the comment period, single
copies of the ED and plain-language supplement are
available free of charge from the GASB Order Department.
800/748–0659
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