FASAB News
Issue 72
February 2002 - March 2002
****************************************************************************************************
FASAB to Be Restructured
On January 11, 2002, the Secretary of the Treasury,
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Comptroller General
of the United States announced a restructuring of the Federal Accounting
Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) to increase the number of public members on the
Board from three to six, decrease the number of federal government members from
six to three, and provide for terms of up to ten years. The full text of the
Joint Press Statement of the US Department of the Treasury, Office of Management
and Budget, and the US General Accounting Office, is available on the website
(
www.fasab.gov/notice.htm
).
The Board’s current public members David Mosso, formerly
vice-chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board; John Farrell,
retired partner from KPMG LLP; and James Patton, professor with University of
Pittsburgh’s Katz School of Business will continue and will be joined by three
new members.
Thank you to All Prior Federal Members: FASAB Staff wishes to express their
gratitude to the many esteemed Congressional Budget Office,
defense/international and civilian agency members who volunteered their time
and talents to the work of FASAB. Without doubt, their contributions were a
factor in the progress of the Board. Current and prior federal members (other
than those from the three agencies that sponsor FASAB) include: Barry Anderson
(CBO), James Blum (CBO), William Kendig (Interior), James Reid (Energy), Nelson
Toye (Defense), Alvin Tucker (Defense), and Kenneth Winter (NASA). The
enthusiasm and dedication of each of these members added greatly to the success
of the Board and staff was honored to receive guidance from them.
Status
of the Change: The
FASAB’s Appointments Panel has solicited candidates from all areas of financial
management. The Appointments Panel is made up of the FASAB Chairperson, the
Treasury, OMB, and GAO FASAB members, and representatives of the American
Institute of CPAs, the Financial Accounting Foundation, and the Accounting
Research Association. Those interested in Board service should visit
http://www.fasab.gov/fasabinfo.htm to obtain more information about the Board.
The site includes FASAB Facts as well as a Statement of Board Members’
Responsibilities. Interested candidates should contact Marian Nicholson at 202
512-7350 for details on how to be considered.
In conjunction
with this change, the FASAB Steering Committee has decided to take two actions
intended to facilitate continued involvement by the federal community. The FASAB
Internet site will be enhanced to permit posting of briefing materials for each
Board meeting. These briefing materials will allow observers and others to
follow more closely the Board’s progress on active projects. As always, FASAB
meetings are open to observers. In addition, on a trial basis, Agenda Hearings
will be incorporated at selected meetings of FASAB. Participants will be invited
to comment on (1) potential future projects being considered by the Board and
(2) the progress of current projects in advance of formal proposals by the
Board. Suggestions for enhancing the accessibility of information on FASAB
activities are welcome. Please contact FASAB at 202 512-7350 or fasab@fasab.gov
with your suggestions.
****************************************************************************************************
Status
of Projects
Consolidated Financial Report of the US Government (CFR)
Audience -The Board agreed to issue an exposure draft identifying the
target audience of the CFR as external users. The Board issued the ED on March
19, 2002 with the comment period concluding June 30, 2002. Point of contact:
Lucy Lomax, 202-512-7359, lomaxm@fasab.gov.
Financial Statements – The Board issued
an exposure draft that would set specific standards for the CFR. The exposure
draft proposes three standards:
1)
clarifying
that all Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) apply to
the CFR, as well as to component entities, unless otherwise provided by a
current or subsequent standard.
2) exempting the CFR from the
requirement to prepare the Statement of Budgetary Resources and Statement of
Financing. (The Board is requesting that users comment on whether they believe
these two reports, which provide information budgetary resources, would provide
useful information to readers of the CFR.)
3) requiring two new CFR financial
statements: a) reconciling the net operating results from the proprietary
accounting system with the budget surplus or deficit (the “reconciliation
statement”), and b) providing a cash flow statement in the form of a
reconciliation between the budget surplus or deficit and the annual change in
cash (“cash flow statement”). (The Board is requesting that users review and comment on the understandability of two different
illustrations of cash flow statements. The illustrations were designed to make
the information understandable for citizens who would not have special
expertise in federal accounting or Financial Management.)
Point of contact:
Richard Fontenrose 202-512-7358 fontenroser@fasab.gov
Board to Eliminate
Defense Property, Plant, and Equipment Category
On March 25th, the Board issued an exposure draft
that would eliminate the category National Defense PP&E (NDPP&E). The
exposure draft proposes:
1) Rescinding
the term -ND PP&E,
2) Categorizing previously considered ND PP&E as general PP&E. Accordingly, these items would be capitalized, and with the exception of land depreciated.
3) Permitting use of the composite or group depreciation
methodology to calculate depreciation.
Trust or
Dedicated Funds
At its February
meeting, the Board reviewed a list of funds and the staff analysis on
categorizing funds and the adequacy of current fund reporting. The Board
requested that staff develop similar information on fiduciary funds and
suggested characteristics that might help differentiate the funds, such as
investment characteristics and the relationship between the source of receipts
and their use. Point of contact: Andrea Palmer, 202-512-7360, palmera@fasab.gov
.
Stewardship Responsibilities
On February 19th,
the Board released for comment proposed Statement of Federal Financial
Accounting Standards, Reclassification of Stewardship
Responsibilities and Eliminating the Current Services Assessment. Information
about stewardship responsibilities is currently designated Required
Supplementary Stewardship Information (RSSI), a category unique to federal
financial reporting. Stewardship responsibilities include:
§
risk
assumed information
required by SFFAS 5, Accounting for Liabilities of the Federal Government,
·
§
the current services
assessment (CSA) required by SFFAS 8, Supplementary Stewardship
Reporting, and
§
social insurance information required by SFFAS 17, Accounting
for Social Insurance.
The exposure draft proposes that risk assumed information
and the CSA be reclassified as required supplementary information (RSI).
Because it is deemed essential to fair presentation, Social Insurance
information would be reclassified as an integral part of the basic financial
statements. FASAB Chairman David Mosso said, “The Board believes the changes
will strengthen and clarify the message sent to all who read federal financial
reports. It will also provide added assurance about the reliability of some of
the most important information contained in federal financial reports.” The
Exposure Draft also includes the Alternative Views of one Board member.
The exposure draft also proposes that the requirement to report the CSA
be eliminated after FY 2003, because improved timeliness in issuing audited
financial statements should mean that these statements will be available before
the President’s Budget is published. The President’s Budget is the source of
the CSA. “This proposed change is made possible by this advance in federal
financial reporting,” Mr. Mosso explained.
As a result of technology intended to eliminate stray “specks” from printed materials, all “dots” were removed from this ED. That includes all periods and similar punctuation marks. In addition, mail delivery was unusually slow.
We apologize if this has caused you any difficulty in
understanding or responding to the proposal. To request a copy of the document
including its punctuation marks, please call FASAB at 202 512-7350, or access
the document on the World Wide Web at
www.fasab.gov/ exposure.htm.
Comments are requested by May 20, 2002. Problems with the e-mail list have been
corrected. You may register for electronic notification at www.fasab.gov/subscribe.htm
****************************************************************************************************
AAPC Inter-entity Cost Task Force to
be Reactivated
At its
January 9, 2002 meeting the AAPC announced the reactivation of its Inter-entity
Cost task force. The task force was originally formulated to deal with issues
related to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) April 6, 1998 Technical
Guidance for the Implementation of Managerial Cost Accounting Standards in
Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) No. 4. This
guidance requires reporting entities to recognize several major categories of
costs that are incurred by a reporting entity but are paid by other entities
(this recognition is also required in SFFAS No. 4 and OMB Bulletin No. 01-09, Form
and Content of Agency Financial Statements). The task force’s initial work
involved gathering inter-entity cost information from agencies by sending a
survey on inter-entity costs to each Federal Chief Financial Officer in July
2000. Under its reactivation it again will assist the AAPC and OMB in
developing effective guidance on inter-entity costs.
The AAPC is asking for agencies to provide representatives
to the reactivated task force. The representatives will help in the information
gathering by sharing agency experiences, ideas and concerns on inter-entity
costs. Point of contact: Monica Valentine, 202-512-7362, ValentineM@fasab.gov
.
****************************************************************************************************
FASAB Staff Seeks Comments on Technical Bulletin
The FASAB has authorized its staff to prepare FASAB
Technical Bulletins to provide timely guidance on certain financial accounting
and reporting problems. Currently, the FASAB staff is seeking comments on
proposed Technical Bulletin, Assigning Costs and Liabilities to Agencies
that Result from Legal Claims Against the Federal Government.
This proposed
technical bulletin is intended to clarify the required reporting of costs and
liabilities resulting from legal claims against the federal government. The
exposure draft on this bulletin proposes that all liabilities and costs related
to legal claims and judgments must be attributed to the component entities
responsible for the programs or activities that contributed to the claims or to
their successor component entities. This attribution follows the general
principle that all transactions or events reported on the consolidated
statements should be attributed to some federal component entity.
We have
experienced delays in mail delivery due to increased screening procedures.
Therefore, please provide your comments in electronic form. Responses are due
by April 12, 2002 and should be sent by e-mail to. If you are unable to provide
electronic delivery, we urge you to fax the comments to (202) 512-7366. Please
follow up by mailing your comments to: Monica R. Valentine, Assistant Director,
Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, Mailstop 6K17V, 441 G Street, NW,
Suite 6814, Washington, DC 20548.
****************************************************************************************************
FASAB to Transition to Limited Mailings of Printed Documents
We have been
faced with increased delays in printing and traditional mail delivery. We also
appreciate that there is increased public access to electronic means.
Therefore, we believe that routinely mailing printed copies of our products,
specifically exposure drafts and this newsletter, is no longer an efficient
option. Since most of our products contain time-sensitive material (defined
comment periods, Board meeting topics, etc.), we believe that the exclusive use
of electronic media will allow us to focus our efforts on getting the widest
and timeliest dissemination of products and the broadest response base. We are
beginning to plan for discontinuing our routine mailings and will establish a
target date in the next two months to accomplish the change.
We welcome your comments as we develop our plan. Please let us know what access you have to electronic communication (e.g., fax, email, or Internet) and which FASAB products you are most interested. Also, please let us know if and how you believe that either
1) continued traditional printed copy mail delivery or
2) electronic delivery of our exposure drafts and newsletters would help or hinder your ability to comment in a timely manner, or conduct other FASAB-related business, such as attending Board and AAPC meetings.
Of
course, even if we change the policy to eliminate routine mailing of printed
documents, you will continue to be able to request that a printed copy of our
documents be mailed to you by calling FASAB at 202-512-7350, faxing a request to
202-512-7366 or by e-mail to fasab@fasab.gov
.
****************************************************************************************************
Electronic Mailing List Subscription Information
The FASAB
mailing list is a ‘send only’ list used to distribute information about Board
activities to interested parties. Messages will be sent to provide Board
meeting agendas, distribute newsletters, announce publications, and make other
Board news available on a timely basis. We also may announce financial
management training events periodically as a service to the community. The
mailing list is sponsored by the General Accounting Office and will include
“GAO” in the address.
You may
subscribe to the list as follows: Send an email message to
listserv@listserv.gao.gov.
In the body (not the subject line) of your message, type “subscribe fasab”
without the quotes. (Note that the use of stationery in e-mails sometimes
prevents the listserv from recognizing your command.)
If
you are already on the list you may unsubscribe by, sending an email to listserv@listserv.gao.gov
. In the body (not the subject line) of your message
type “unsubscribe fasab” without the quotes.
If
you have difficulty subscribing or unsubscribing, please send a message to fasab@fasab.gov
and we will try to help you as soon as possible.
********************************************************************************************
FASAB
Board Members
David Mosso, Chairman
Philip T. Calder, GAO John A. Farrell Joseph L. Kull, OMB
James M. Patton Robert N. Reid, Treasury Kenneth J. Winter, NASA
FASAB Staff
Wendy M. Payne,
Executive Director
Assistant Directors:
Robert Bramlett Richard Fontenrose M. Lucy Lomax Melissa
Loughan Andrea Palmer Monica Valentine Richard Wascak
Charles Jackson,
Administrative Officer
Marian Nicholson,
Secretary
********************************************************************************************
Board 2002 Calendar
All meetings
will be held in the General Accounting Office Building, 441 G Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20548, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Room numbers will be
available before each meeting. The meeting agenda is released approximately one
week before the meeting. The agenda will be available via the electronic
mailing list, the FASAB website or by calling, 202-512-7350.
Meeting dates:
April 23 and 24
June18 and 19
August 7 and 8
October 9 and 10
December 11 and 12
****************************************************************************************************
AAPC 2002 Calendar
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).
Meeting
dates:
May 9 July 17
September 4 November 6
Agendas will be posted to the FASAB web page one week prior to meetings.
Point of contact: Monica R. Valentine, 202-512- 7362, ValentineM@fasab.gov
****************************************************************************************************
Meeting
Attendance Security Reminder
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,
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.
********************************************************************************************
Reminder:
FASAB's Web Site has Moved!
Effective December 1, 2001, FASAB's new web address became:
Please watch for instructions on maintaining your
subscription to the electronic version of the FASAB News.
********************************************************************************************
Disclaimer
NOTE: The staff of the Federal Accounting Standards
Advisory Board publishes FASAB News. following Board meetings to provide
highlights of recent Board actions and issues. 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).
Please direct newsletter editorial questions to Lucy Lomax,
202-512-7359, lomaxm@gao.gov
Please direct AAPC technical questions to Monica Valentine,
202-512-7362, valentinem@fasab.gov.
Please direct FASAB and AAPC administrative questions to
Charles Jackson, 202-512-7352, jacksoncw1@fasab.gov.