GASB Issues New Guidance on Pension Accounting

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board issued guidance Monday addressing several practical issues raised by stakeholders during implementation of GASB’s pension accounting and financial reporting standards for state and local governments.

GASB Statement No. 82, Pension Issues, addresses the presentation of payroll-related measures in required supplementary information, the selection of assumptions and the treatment of deviations from guidance in Actuarial Standards of Practice for financial reporting purposes, and the classification of payments made by employers to satisfy plan member contribution requirements.

The statement is designed to improve consistency in the application of the pension standards by clarifying or amending related areas of existing guidance. Specifically, the practice issues raised by stakeholders during implementation relate to the following GASB statements:

• No. 67, Financial Reporting for Pension Plans
• No. 68, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions, and
• No. 73, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions and Related Assets That Are Not within the Scope of GASB Statement 68.

The requirements of GASB Statement 82 are generally effective for reporting periods beginning after June 15, 2016, with earlier application encouraged. Additional information regarding implementation timing is available in the document.