Postponement of the Effective Dates of Certain Authoritative Guidance
Project Description: The objective of this project is to consider postponing the effective dates of Statement and Implementation Guide provisions with an effective date that begins on or after reporting periods beginning after June 15, 2018 through Statement No. 93, Replacement of Interbank Offered Rates, and Implementation Guide No. 2019-3, Leases.
Status:
Final Statement, Postponement of the Effective Dates of Certain Authoritative Guidance, approved: May 2020
Postponement of the Effective Dates of Certain Authoritative Guidance—Project Plan
Background: The GASB staff has received correspondence from numerous state and local government officials and public accounting firms that have requested the postponement of authoritative guidance. Those requests have ranged from the postponement of a Statement (for example, Statement No. 84, Fiduciary Activities) to the postponement of all current GASB authoritative guidance that has effective dates starting with reporting periods beginning after June 15, 2018, that has not been implemented by all state and local governments that issue financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
As a result of the closure of many state and local government offices due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GASB staff has been informed that government officials do not have access to information that is necessary to implement those pronouncements. Office closures that impair the ability of state and local governments to implement new authoritative guidance have occurred throughout the United States. As of March 31, at least 82 percent of the U.S. population was under a stay-at-home order issued by a state, county, or municipal government. Those orders encompass, at a minimum, an estimated 75 percent of all state and local governments. It is likely that governments not located in an area with a stay-at-home order nevertheless are working under challenging conditions as well.
Accounting and Financial Reporting Issues: The key issue that this project will address is which, if any, effective dates of pronouncements or specific authoritative guidance should be postponed. The pronouncements that will be considered include:
- Statement No. 83, Certain Asset Retirement Obligations
- Statement No. 84, Fiduciary Activities
- Statement No. 87, Leases
- Statement No. 88, Certain Disclosures Related to Debt, including Direct Borrowings and Direct Placements
- Statement No. 89, Accounting for Interest Cost Incurred before the End of a Construction Period
- Statement No. 90, Majority Equity Interests—an amendment of GASB Statements No. 14 and No. 61
- Statement No. 91, Conduit Debt Obligations
- Statement No. 92, Omnibus 2020
- Statement No. 93
- Implementation Guide No. 2017-3, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions (and Certain Issues Related to OPEB Plan Reporting)
- Implementation Guide No. 2018-1, Implementation Guidance Update—2018
- Implementation Guide No. 2019-1, Implementation Guidance Update—2019
- Implementation Guide No. 2019-2, Fiduciary Activities
- Implementation Guide 2019-3.
- Added to current technical agenda: March 2020
- Deliberations began: March 2020
- Exposure Draft approved: April 2020
- Comment period ended: April 30, 2020
- Redeliberations began: May 2020
- Final Statement issued: May 2020
Postponement of the Effective Dates of Certain Authoritative Guidance—MINUTES
Minutes of Meetings, May 6–8, 2020
The Board began redeliberations by considering alternatives to the effective dates of the provisions covered by the Statement. The Board agreed to postpone the effective date of Statement No. 87, Leases, and Implementation Guide No. 2019-3, Leases, by 18 months and all other effective dates in the scope of the Statement by 1 year.
The Board then reviewed the ballot draft of a final Statement and provided clarifying edits. The Board voted unanimously to approve the issuance of Statement No. 95, Postponement of the Effective Dates of Certain Authoritative Guidance.
Minutes Archive