The Government Accounting Standards Board has recently made an announcement that will directly benefit CPE insurance industry accounting. The announcement involves the approval of two new standards that will significantly improve the accounting and financial reporting by state and local governments for post employment benefits other than pensions, primarily retiree health insurance.
The two new OPEB standards are:
– GASB Statement No. 74, Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefit Plans Other Than Pension Plans, which establishes rules on reporting by OPEB plans that administer benefits on behalf of governments.
– GASB Statement No. 75, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions, which outlines reporting by governments that provide OPEB to their employees and for governments that finance OPEB for employees of other governments.
Statement No. 73, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions and Related Assets That Are Not Within the Scope of GASB Statement 68, was also approved. This statement establishes accounting and financial reporting requirements for pensions and pension plans that were excluded from the pension standards that GASB released in 2012.
Effective Dates
– Statement No. 73: Effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2015.
– Provisions that address employers and governmental non-employer contributing entities for pensions that are not within the scope of Statement No. 68, take effect for financial statements for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2016.
– Statement No. 74: Effective for financial statements for periods beginning after June 15, 2016.
– Statement No. 75: Effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2017.
Availability
GASB said that the three statements will be available for download at no charge from its web site later this month. Printed copies of the statements will be available for purchase soon after that. Other related resources also will be available on the web site at that time.
Via The Journal of Accountancy
