GASB Issues Statement No. 59, Financial Instruments Omnibus

Norwalk, CT - June 24, 2010 - The GASB issued Statement No. 59, Financial Instruments Omnibus. The Statement updates and improves existing standards regarding financial reporting of certain financial instruments and external investment pools. The Statement is effective for financial statements prepared by state and local governments for periods beginning after June 15, 2010, with earlier application encouraged.

Statement 59:

• Emphasizes the applicability of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requirements to certain external investment pools - known as 2a7-like pools - to provide users more consistent information on qualifying pools.
• Addresses the applicability of Statement No. 53, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Derivative Instruments, to certain financial instruments to clarify which financial instruments are within the scope of that pronouncement and to provide greater consistency in financial reporting.
• Applies the reporting provisions for interest-earning investment contracts of Statement No. 31, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Certain Investments and for External Investment Pools, to unallocated insurance contracts to improve the consistency of reporting by pension and OPEB plans.

GASB Statement 59 is available for purchase at www.gasb.org.

GASB Issues Revised Proposal on Service Concession Arrangements

Norwalk, CT - June 17, 2010 - The Board issued its revised Exposure Draft (ED), Accounting and Financial Reporting for Service Concession Arrangements. The revised ED was unanimously approved for reexposure. The deadline for submitting written comments on the revised ED is August 17, 2010.

The objective of this project is to provide accounting and financial reporting guidance for service concession arrangements (SCAs), which are a subset of public-private partnerships. This involves determing whether existing authoritative guidance is sufficient to address the accounting and financial reporting issues resulting from SCAs, or whether new standards are necessary to address these issues.

The original ED was issued in June 2009.

The GASB urges interested parties to review the revised ED and provide input on areas in which they agree or disagree regarding significant changes from the previous ED.

The revised ED, including instructions for submitting written comments, may be downloaded free of charge from the GASB's website at www.gasb.org.

GASB Issues Preliminary Views on Potential Improvements to Pension Standards

Norwalk, CT - June 16, 2010 - The GASB has issued a Preliminary Views on Pension Accounting and Financial Reporting By Employers. The document presents the Board's current views on what it believes are the most fundamental issues related to recognition and measurement of pension obligations by state and local government employers. The purpose of the document is to obtain comments from constituents on those views before developing more detailed proposals for changes to the existing accounting and financial reporting standards. In addition to the issues addressed in the Preliminary Views, the Board will begin deliberations in July on pension note disclosures and supporting information for government employers and pension plan reporting issues.

The Preliminary Views, including instructions on how to submit written comments, is available for download at www.gasb.org. The deadline for submitting written comments is September 17, 2010. The GASB will host a public hearing on Preliminary Views on October 13, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, on October 14, 2010 at the KPMG offices in San Francisco, and October 27, 2010 at the Crown Plaza LaGuardia in New York City.