The GASB has issued an exposure draft of an omnibus statement to address various accounting and financial reporting issues that have been identified during the implementation and application of several GASB pronouncements. The GASB issues omnibus statements to correct, clarify and provide additional guidance on previously issued pronouncements.

Issue 1: Effective date of Statement No. 87 Leases. The requirements of Statement No. 87 would be effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019 and all reporting periods thereafter. Earlier application is encouraged.

Issue 2: Intra-Entity Transfer of Assets. The statement provides guidance on the reporting of transfers of assets between the primary government employer and a component unit pension plan or other post-employment benefit plan. Any difference between the amount paid by the pension plan or OPEB plan (exclusive of amounts that may be refundable) and the carrying value of the assets transferred would be reported:

• As an employer contribution or a nonemployer contributing entity contribution to the pension plan or OPEB plan in accordance with the requirements of Statements No. 68 and 75 in the separately issued statements of the employer or nonemployer contributing entity and in the financial statements of the reporting entity.
• As an employer contribution or a nonemployer contributing entity contribution in accordance with the requirements of Statements No. 67 and 74, as applicable, in the stand-alone statements of the pension plan or OPEB plan and in the financial statements of the reporting entity.

Issue 3: Applicability of Statements No. 73, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions and Related Assets That Are Not within the Scope of GASB Statement No. 68, and Amendments to Certain Provisions of GASB Statements No. 67 and 68, as amended, and No. 74, Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefit Plans Other Than Pension Plans, as amended, to reporting assets accumulated for postemployment benefits (Plans That Are Not Administered through Trusts That Meet Specified Criteria):

• The guidance of Statements No. 73 and 74, as amended, would be applicable to circumstances in which Statement No. 84 requires the reporting of assets that are accumulated for purposes of providing pensions or OPEB through defined benefit pension plans or defined benefit OPEB plans that are not administered through trusts that meet criteria as specified in Statements No. 73 or Statement No. 74.

Issue 4: The applicability of certain requirements of Statement No. 84, Fiduciary Activities, to postemployment benefit arrangements:

• A government that reports a fiduciary activity for assets that are accumulated for purposes of providing pensions or OPEB through defined benefit pension plans or defined benefit OPEB plans that are not administered through trusts that meet the criteria as outlined in Statements No. 73 or 74, respectively, would apply the requirements in paragraph 21 of Statement No. 84 with regard to recognition of a liability to the beneficiary (employer).
• The requirements in paragraphs 22 and 25 of Statement No. 84 would be applied to the reporting of defined benefit pension plans and defined benefit OPEB plans; however, those requirements would not be applied to the reporting of defined contribution pension plans or defined contribution OPEB plans

Issue 5: Measurement of liabilities (and assets, if any) related to asset retirement obligations (AROs) in a government acquisition:

• In a government acquisition, the acquiring government would measure liabilities (and assets, if any) related to the acquired entity’s asset retirement obligations (AROs) that are within the scope of Statement No. 83.

Issue 6: Reporting by public entity risk pools for amounts that are recoverable from reinsurers or excess insurers:

• Accounting for risk financing and insurance-related activities of public entity risk pools, amounts that are recoverable from reinsurers or excess insurers and that relate to paid claims and claim adjustment expenses may be reported as reductions of expenses but would not be required to be reported as reductions of expenses.

Issue 7: Reference to nonrecurring fair value measurements of assets or liabilities in authoritative literature:

• An example of nonrecurring fair value measurements of assets or liabilities that other Statements require or permit in the statement of net position in particular circumstances is presented in paragraph 455 of Statement No. 62.

Issue 8: Terminology used to refer to derivative instruments:

• Replaces the terms derivative and derivatives in National Council on Governmental Accounting and GASB pronouncements with derivative instrument and derivative instruments, respectively.

The effective dates for the issues outlined above vary, with the earliest provisions being effective upon issuance of the omnibus.

Comments are due by October 4, 2019 and should be emailed addressed to the Director of Research and Technical Activities, Project No. 37-1 at director@gasb.org.

The full text of the Exposure Draft is available here.

^{Readers should not act upon information presented without individual professional consultation.}