AAPC Member Lane Concludes Four Years of Service

The Accounting and Auditing Policy Committee’s original at-large member, Mr. Jay Lane, has completed his service. Mr. Lane was an original member of the Committee and was instrumental in establishing the original operating procedures as well as the first five Technical Releases. His contribution to AAPC has been tremendous. Mr. Lane served as an "at-large" member appointed by the FASAB Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is interested in considering both federal and non-federal candidates for this seat. Please contact Monica Valentine, at 202 512-7362 (valentinem@fasab.gov) to recommend candidates or offer your services.

Highlights of the June 18-19, 2001 Board Meeting:

Board Welcomes New Member, John Farrell

The Board was joined in June by Mr. John A. Farrell, CPA, CGFM. Mr. Farrell retired from KPMG in November 1999 after serving as a partner in KPMG’s Government Assurance Practice. He directed audits and audit-based advisory service engagements to federal, state, and local governments. He was appointed to a two-year term as a non-federal representative on the Board.

Board Decides to Undertake Consolidated Financial Report Project

The Board decided to undertake a project on analysis of the Consolidated Financial Report (CFR) of the US. The project will include a roundtable and/or survey to assess how the information in the current CFR is more or less useful to readers. It will also include an analysis of current Federal generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to determine if standards should be modified to more specifically address the CFR.

At the August Board meeting, representatives from the Financial Management Service of the Department of the Treasury will present to the Board sample reporting formats. They believe that these formats may more effectively communicate to users the results of consolidating agency level reports and linking that reported information to budgetary data and other meaningful financial condition indicators. Also at the August meeting, staff will present the project plan and sample questions for the roundtable and/or survey. Point of contact: Lucy Lomax, 202-512-7359, lomaxm@fasab.gov

 

National Defense Property, Plant, & Equipment

Exposure Draft Nears Completion

The Board continued its review of a draft exposure draft on National Defense Property, Plant, and Equipment (ND PP&E). Final revisions were proposed to technical provisions and the Board agreed to consider the next revision as a pre-ballot draft with final editorial changes expected by the end of July and balloting in early August. The Board concurred that it would be desirable to issue the exposure draft before its next meeting in late August. Point of contact: Rick Wascak, 202-512-7363, wascakr@fasab.gov

 

RSSI to be Eliminated

The Board reaffirmed its decision to eliminate the RSSI category. One member abstained because it was his first meeting; another member was absent. All the others agreed that the Board should resume work on exposure drafts to reclassify individual items of stewardship information as either "basic" or "required supplementary information." Point of contact, Robert Bramlett, 202-512-7355, bramlettr@fasab.gov

 

Board Tentatively Approves Amending SFFAS 7

The Board discussed the technical amendment to Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) 7, Accounting for Revenue and Other Financing Sources. The amendment would allow flexibility in reporting changes in "receivables from the public related to exchange revenue" on the Statement of Financing. The Board noted that responses were continuing to arrive after the due date and agreed to review any comments received before July 2nd before voting on the final standard. The Board approved the amendment, barring any negative comments received by July 2nd. Point of contact: Richard Fontenrose, 202-512-73 , fontenroser@fasab.gov

 

Board Gives Preliminary Approval to

Draft Standard on Correcting Errors

The Board reviewed and discussed the draft final statement on Reporting Corrections of Errors and Changes in Accounting Principles, and the fourteen comments received from respondents. The Board made only editorial changes in the draft. Since respondents had less time to review the document because of mailing delays, the Board agreed to consider comment received up to July 2, 2001. Comments will be forwarded to the Board until that date; voting will take place shortly thereafter. Point of contact: Andrea Palmer, 202-512-7360, palmera@fasab.gov

 

Announcements

FASAB Meeting Dates

2001

August 23 & 24

October 25 & 26

December 13 & 14

Location

General Accounting Office,

441 G Street, NW, Room 6N30,

Washington, DC 20548.

Agendas and meeting times will be

posted to the FASAB web page one

week prior to meetings.

AAPC

Meetings Dates

2001

July 12

Sept 13

Nov 8

Location

General Accounting Office,

441 G Street, NW, in Room 4N30,

beginning at 1:30 PM.

Agendas and meeting times 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,

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.

 

 

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).

Please direct newsletter editorial questions to Lucy Lomax, 202-512-7359, LomaxM@fasab.gov

Please direct FASAB and AAPC administrative questions to Charles Jackson, 202-512-7352, jacksoncw1.@fasab.gov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exposure Draft Issued on Independence

On May 4, 2001, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), on the recommendation of the Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards, issued an

Specifically, the exposure draft proposes expanding the examples of personal impairments and adding criteria to help audit organizations understand whether the provisions of nonaudit service affect the subject matter of the audit. The exposure draft emphasizes that auditors and audit organizations have an obligation to evaluate the circumstances and relationships on each assignment to identify situations that could result in an actual or perceived impairment to independence, including whether the performance of nonaudit services affects the subject matter being audited. The exposure draft also recognizes that internal auditors play a vital role in government auditing and can be free from organizational impairments to independence. However, since internal auditors are responsible to management while external auditors are responsible to third parties outside the audited entity, a fundamental difference exists between internal and external auditors. The exposure draft acknowledges this difference by retaining the sections on internal audit in the 1994 revision of Government Auditing Standards but refocusing the discussion to organizational impairment considerations when reporting internally to management. In addition, the exposure draft expanded by two ways the criteria that define organizations that can report externally. First, the exposure draft expands the presumptive criteria by specifying additional ways for an organization to be free from organizational impairments to independence. If the audit organization meets any of the presumptive criteria listed in the exposure draft, it can be considered organizationally independent to audit externally. Second, the exposure draft recognizes that other organizational structures can provide sufficient safeguards to prevent the audited entity from interfering with the audit organization’s ability to perform the work and report the results impartially. If the audit organization meets all the statutory protections listed in the exposure draft, it can be considered organizationally independent to report externally. Comments are accepted through July 30, 2001. A copy of the exposure draft can be obtained on the Internet on GAO's Home Page (www.gao.gov). Additional copies of these proposed standards can be obtained from the U. S. General Accounting Office, Room 1100, 700 4th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20548, or by calling (202) 512-6000.