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Guest Article

(From the May 19, 2008 issue of Deloitte's Washington Bulletin, a periodic update of legal and regulatory developments relating to Employee Benefits.)

GASB Considering Improvements to Accounting Standards for Pension and Other Post Employment Benefits

At its April 2008 meeting, the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) added to its Current Technical Agenda a project to consider improvements to the standards of accounting and financial reporting for pension benefits and other post employment benefits (OPEB) by state and local governmental employers and trustees, administrators, and sponsors of pension or OPEB plans. The Government Accounting Standards Advisory Council ranked the project as relatively high in priority.

The project follows one approved by GASB in January 2006 to determine how effective the standards established for pension accounting and financial reporting have been in improving accountability and providing decision-useful information. The objectives of the current project are to improve both items. As stated by GASB, the objectives are to improve:

accountability – or the transparency of financial reporting – in regard to the financial effects of employers' commitments (i.e., improve the information provided to help report users assess the degree to which interperiod equity has been achieved), and usefulness of information for decisions relevant to the various users of the external financial reports of governmental employers and pension or OPEB plans.

According to GASB, the following have been identified as among the potential major issues with regard to employer’s liability:

What obligations associated with post employment benefits meet the conceptual definition of a liability? If determined to be a liability, should an employer's accrued benefit obligation be recognized in accrual-basis financial statements? If the GASB determines that an employer's accrued benefit obligation should be recognized in accrual-basis financial statements, in what manner should changes in the accrued benefit obligation from one financial report date to another be recognized in the financial statements: By immediate recognition of the total change as expense? If so, displayed in what way? By deferral and amortization of the total change or parts of the total change for expense recognition purposes? If so, in what way, and on what basis would recognition of costs be deferred to future periods? Should the financial reporting by an employer include reporting of changes in accrued benefit obligations for pensions and OPEB by type? If so, what communication method and format should be used for reporting this information?

The information in this Washington Bulletin is general in nature only and not intended to provide advice or guidance for specific situations. If you have any questions or need additional information about articles appearing in this or previous versions of Washington Bulletin, please contact: Robert Davis 202.879.3094, Elizabeth Drigotas 202.879.4985, Mary Jones 202.378.5067, Stephen LaGarde 202.879-5608, Erinn Madden 202.572.7677, Bart Massey 202.220.2104, Mark Neilio 202.378.5046, Martha Priddy Patterson 202.879.5634, Tom Pevarnik 202.879.5314, Sandra Rolitsky 202.220.2025, Tom Veal 312.946.2595, Deborah Walker 202.879.4955. Copyright 2008, Deloitte.

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