On April 11, GASB issued financial reporting guidance designed to address practice issues raised during implementation of the board’s new pension accounting standards for state and local governments. The guidance in GASB Statement No. 82, Pension Issues, addressed practice issues related to the following GASB statements:
No. 67, Financial Reporting for Pension Plans
No. 68, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions
No. 73, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions and Related Assets That Are Not Within the Scope of GASB Statement 68
Statement 82 amends Statements 67 and 68 to require the presentation in schedules of required supplementary information of covered payroll and ratios that use that measure.
Also, Statement 82 clarifies that a deviation from the guidance in an Actuarial Standard of Practice is not considered to conform to the requirements of Statement 67, 68, or 73 for the selection of assumptions used in determining the total pension liability and related measures.
Statement 82 also clarifies that payments made by an employer to satisfy contribution requirements identified by the pension plan terms as “plan member contributions” for purpose of Statement 67 and as “employee contributions” for purposes of Statement 68. Statement 82 also requires an employer’s expense and expenditures for those amounts to be recognized in the period for which the contribution is assessed and classified in the same manner as the employer classifies similar compensation other than pensions.
Most requirements in Statement 82 take effect for reporting periods beginning after June 15, 2016, with earlier application encouraged.
VACo Contact: Vicky Steinruck