"The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) [on Monday, June 25, 2012] voted to approve two new standards that will substantially improve the accounting and financial reporting of public employee pensions by state and local governments. Statement No. 67, Financial Reporting for Pension Plans, revises existing guidance for the financial reports of most pension plans.... Statement 68 requires governments providing defined benefit pensions to recognize their long-term obligation for pension benefits as a liability for the first time, and to more comprehensively and comparably measure the annual costs of pension benefits.... The Statement calls for immediate recognition of more pension expense than is currently required.... The Statement also will improve the comparability and consistency of how governments calculate the pension liabilities and expense. These changes include: ..."  MORE >>