Financial Reporting and Regulatory Update

Third Quarter 2021

From the GASB

Proposals

Omnibus 20XX

On July 19, 2021, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued an exposure draft, “Omnibus 20XX,” which addresses accounting and financial reporting issues identified during the implementation and application of certain GASB pronouncements or during the due process on other pronouncements.

The exposure draft covers these issues:

  • Accounting and financial reporting for exchange or exchangelike financial guarantees
  • Classification and reporting of certain derivative instruments that are neither hedging derivative instruments nor investment derivative instruments
  • Clarification of certain provisions of:
    • Statement No. 87, “Leases,” related to the determination of the lease term, short-term lease classification, identification of lease incentives, and the recognition and measurement of lease liabilities and lease assets
    • Statement No. 94, “Public-Private and Public-Public Partnerships and Availability Payment Arrangements,” related to 1) the determination of the public-private and public-public partnership (PPP) term and 2) recognition and measurement of installment payments and the transfer of the underlying PPP asset
    • Statement No. 96, “Subscription-Based Information Technology Arrangements,” related to the subscription-based information technology arrangement (SBITA) term, classification of a SBITA as a short-term SBITA, and recognition and measurement of subscription liabilities
  • Extending the period during which the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) is considered an appropriate benchmark interest rate for the qualitative evaluation of the effectiveness of certain interest-rate swaps
  • Accounting for the distribution of benefits as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
  • Disclosures related to nonmonetary transactions
  • Pledges of future revenues when resources are not received by the pledging government
  • Updating certain terminology for consistency with existing authoritative standards

Comments were due Sept. 17, 2021.

Financial statement disclosures criteria concepts statement

On July 20, 2021, the GASB issued a revised exposure draft of the proposed concepts statement “Communication Methods in General Purpose External Financial Reports That Contain Basic Financial Statements: Notes to Financial Statements – an Amendment of GASB Concepts Statement No. 3.” The statement would provide enhanced guidance when the GASB establishes note disclosure requirements for state and local governments and would establish new criteria for state and local governments to follow in developing their disclosures for notes to financial statements.

The revised exposure draft describes the purpose of notes to financial statements and the intended users of notes. It addresses the types of information that are appropriate or not appropriate for note disclosures. In addition, the proposal addresses the degree of importance that information disclosed in the notes should possess and the characteristics that distinguish information that is considered essential to users in making economic, social, or political decisions or assessing accountability. Information is considered essential if it is distinguished by the following characteristics:

  • Users utilize the information in their analyses for making decisions or assessing accountability or would modify those analyses to incorporate the information if it were made available.
  • The information has or would have a meaningful effect on users’ analyses for making decisions or assessing accountability.
  • A breadth or depth of users utilize or would utilize the information in their analyses for making decisions or assessing accountability.

The GASB issued an exposure draft on this topic in early 2020. The GASB has issued this revised exposure draft to incorporate feedback received from stakeholders on the previous exposure draft and to seek feedback on the resulting proposed revisions, which the GASB believes will improve the final concepts.

Comments were due Oct. 15, 2021.