GASB Issues Statement 63

Statement 63 is intended to improve financial reporting by providing citizens and other users of state and local government financial reports with information about how past transactions will continue to impact a government’s financial statements in the future.

Statement 63 provides a new statement of net position format to report all assets, deferred outflows of resources, liabilities, deferred inflows of resources, and net position (which is the net residual amount of the other elements). The Statement requires that deferred outflows of resources and deferred inflows of resources be reported separately from assets and liabilities.

A deferred outflow of resources is a consumption of net assets that is applicable to a future reporting period. An example of a deferred outflow of resources is a government’s hedging interest rate swap agreement in which the fair value becomes negative. If the hedge is determined to be effectively offsetting the changes in fair value of the debt, the decrease in the fair value of the derivative instrument would be reported as a liability with a corresponding deferred outflow of resources to reflect the fact that this decrease is not expected to be recognized in investment income in future periods.

A deferred inflow of resources is an acquisition of net assets that is applicable to a future reporting period. An example of a deferred inflow of resources is a service concession arrangement that involves a public toll road. If the government receives an up-front payment from an operator, the revenue associated with that payment will be recognized in future years because the arrangement that generated the up-front payment relates to those periods.

Statement 63 also amends certain provisions of Statement No. 34, Basic Financial Statements—and Management’s Discussion and Analysis—for State and Local Governments, and related pronouncements to reflect the residual measure in the statement of financial position as net position, rather than net assets.

The provisions of Statement 63 are effective for financial statements for periods beginning after December 15, 2011, with earlier application encouraged.