The Board continued its discussion of guidance for governmentwide or consolidated level reporting. It reviewed refinements to two financial statements that the Department of Treasury had proposed to replace the Statements of Financing and Budgetary Resources at the consolidated level. After discussing different approaches, the Board decided to develop a standard that would:

• clarify that all Statements of Federal Financial Standards (SFFASs) apply to governmentwide reporting unless such reporting is specifically exempted,
• provide that the Statements of Financing and Budgetary Resources do not apply to the consolidated financial reports (CFR) of the US, and
• propose concepts for two new statements that would apply exclusively to the CFR. The statements would reconcile results of operations from accrual, budgetary, and cash bases in a format that would be easy for general readers to understand.

Staff will develop alternative formats and draft an exposure draft for discussion at the Board's February 2002 meeting.

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In October the Board reached agreement on 14 issues regarding a working draft of an exposure draft to reclassify stewardship responsibilities. Among other things, the Board has agreed that the proposed standard would:

• be effective for FY 2003;

• reclassify "risk assumed" information that is required by SFFAS 5 and the "current services assessment" (CSA) that is required by SFFAS 8 as required supplementary information (RSI) rather than "required supplementary stewardship information" (RSSI), as this information is currently classified;
• end the requirement to present the CSA in fiscal year 2004;
• reclassify the information about social insurance that is required by SFFAS 17 (and currently classified as RSSI) to make it clear that this information is an integral part of the basic financial statements, essential to fair presentation in onformity with generally accepted accounting principles.

Questions in the exposure draft will solicit comments on topics such as the effective date and the cost of compliance, as well as the suitability of the proposed classifications.

Point of contact: Robert Bramlett, 202-512-7355, bramlettr@fasab.gov.

See Financial Report, Page 2.

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The Board's final meeting for 2001 will take place on December 13 & 14. Meetings generally begin at 9 a. m. and conclude at 4 p. m. The meeting agenda is released approximately one week before the meeting. The agenda is available via the electronic mailing list, the FASAB website or by calling, 202-512-7350.

Meeting dates for 2002: February 27 and 28 April 23 and 24 June 18 and 19 August 7 and 8 October 9 and 10 December 11 and 12

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All Accounting and Auditing Policy Committee meetings will be held from 1: 30 to 4: 00 p. m. in room 6N30 of the GAO Building (441 G Street NW).

January 9 March 6 May 1 July 17 September 4 November 6

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If you wish to attend a FASAB or an AAPC meeting, please provide your name, organization, and phone number to Marian Nicholson, 202-512-7350, or email, nicholsonm@fasab.gov at least one day prior to the meeting. The General Accounting Office has increased its security procedures and your name must be provided to the security force before you can enter the building. Thank you.

Point of contact: Rich Fontenrose, 202-512-7358, fontenroser@fasab.gov.

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The Board also discussed a staff analysis of the audience for the CFR. The analysis was based on the Board's concepts documents. The Board asked staff to draft a concepts paper for its review at the February 2002 meeting.

Point of contact: Lucy Lomax, 202-512-7359, lomaxm@fasab.gov.

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September 30, 2001 with earlier implementation encouraged.

SFFAS 22, Change in Certain Requirements for Reconciling Obligations and Net Cost of Operations Amendments to SFFAS No. 7, Accounting for Revenue and Other Financing Sources - amends Paragraph 80, SFFAS 7, eliminating the requirement for increases and decreases in receivables from the public related to exchange revenue to be reported as nonbudgetary resources. SFFAS 22 provides that the standard will no longer specify the location of this reconciling item in the Statement of Financing. SFFAS 22 is effective September 30, 2000. Hard copies of the three SFFAS's will be mailed to the FASAB mailing list. As with all FASAB documents, the SFFAS's also are available on the FASAB web site at http://www.financenet.gov/fasab.htm or by calling 202-512-7350.

SFFAS 20, Elimination of Certain Disclosures Related to Tax Revenue Transactions by the Internal Revenue Service, Customs, and Others, Amendments to SFFAS No. 7, Accounting for Revenue and Other Financing Sources - rescinds paragraph 65.2 of SFFAS 7, which could result in information that could be misinterpreted by readers of the financial statements. SFFAS 20 is effective September 30, 2000.

SFFAS 21, Reporting Corrections of Errors and Changes in Accounting Amendment of SFFAS 7, Accounting for Revenue and Other Financing Sources - amends the reporting requirements for errors that have been discovered in the current period and that would have materially affected prior period financial statements. In such situations, entities would restate financial statements to correct the error which would allow reporting entities to present comparative statements. SFFAS 21 is effective.

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We are recruiting a Supervisory Accountant to join the FASAB research staff. The position is a Band III within the General Accounting Office's personnel system; this is equivalent to a GS-15 in the Executive Branch. The vacancy announcement - including information on how to apply - can be found at: http://www.gao.gov/jobs/fasab400200214.html

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The Accounting and Auditing Policy Committee (AAPC) is seeking comments on its draft Stewardship guidance, Reporting and Assurance Guide for Stewardship Land and Heritage Assets. In 1998, the AAPC commissioned a multi- agency work group (AAPC Stewardship Guidance Work Group) to draft guidance that would assist Federal entities in implementing the standards for reporting and examining information on stewardship land and heritage assets. The draft Guide, prepared by the work group, provides implementation guidance in the areas of asset identification and categorization, materiality considerations, condition reporting, and auditor's assurance.

The AAPC and the work group are aware of the FASAB's desire to eliminate the required supplementary stewardship reporting (RSSI) category and designate information that is now reported as RSSI as either (a) "basic information" to the financial statements, (b) required supplementary information (RSI), or (c) other information. The AAPC and the work group will be closely monitoring the work of the FASAB in the pending re-categorization of RSSI items. The guidance will be revised as needed based on future decisions of the FASAB as they relate to the reporting of stewardship land and heritage assets.

For copies of the draft guidance and for instructions on where to submit comments, please go to the AAPC website at http://www.financenet.gov/financenet/fed/aapc/reports.htm (after December 1 st, please visit http://www.fasab.gov) Comments are due by December 21, 2001.

Point of contact, Monica Valentine, 202-512-7362, valentinem@fasab.gov.

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As we reported in the last edition of FASAB News, FASAB's web page is moving. Effective December 1, 2001, FASAB's new web address will be:

http://www.fasab.gov On December 1, the web site will be fully functional, with links to all of the documents and information on FASAB's current web site. However, we hope readers will bear with us as we work with the new web site design and maintenance crew at the General Accounting Office to redesign and implement the graphics on our web page. Please watch for instructions on maintaining your subscription to the electronic version of the FASAB News.

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AGA DC's Technology Enabling Financial Management Conference, November 19th & 20th, 2001; Grand Hyatt, Washington, DC. To register go to http://www.agadc.org/securereg.html or call our Education Director, Karen Holmcrans at (703)947-1847.

AGA's 13th Annual Federal Leadership Conference: "Transforming Leadership" is scheduled for Jan. 24-25 at the International Trade Center- The Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, D.C. The conference offers 16 CPE hours. Visit http://www.agacgfm.org for details.

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Disclaimer

NOTE: FASAB News is published by the staff of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board. This newsletter, highlighting recent Board actions, is issued after Board meetings to provide the public with an understanding of issues that the Board is considering. When an article refers to a Board decision, it should be understood that Board decisions are tentative until FASAB issues a Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Concepts (SFFAC) or Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS).