Statement No. 46
Net Assets Restricted by Enabling Legislation—an amendment of GASB Statement No. 34
(Issued 12/04)
GASB Statement No. 34, Basic Financial Statements—and Management’s Discussion and Analysis—for State and Local Governments, requires that limitations on the use of net assets imposed by enabling legislation be reported as restricted net assets. In the process of applying this provision, some governments have had difficulty interpreting the requirement that those restrictions be “legally enforceable.” The confusion over this phrase has resulted in a diversity of practice that has diminished comparability.
This Statement clarifies that a legally enforceable enabling legislation restriction is one that a party external to a government—such as citizens, public interest groups, or the judiciary—can compel a government to honor. The Statement states that the legal enforceability of an enabling legislation restriction should be reevaluated if any of the resources raised by the enabling legislation are used for a purpose not specified by the enabling legislation or if a government has other cause for reconsideration. Although the determination that a particular restriction is not legally enforceable may cause a government to review the enforceability of other restrictions, it should not necessarily lead a government to the same conclusion for all enabling legislation restrictions.
This Statement also specifies the accounting and financial reporting requirements if new enabling legislation replaces existing enabling legislation or if legal enforceability is reevaluated. Finally, this Statement requires governments to disclose the portion of total net assets that is restricted by enabling legislation. The requirements of this Statement are effective for financial statements for periods beginning after June 15, 2005.
How the Changes in This Statement Improve Financial Reporting
The clarifications in this Statement should improve the understandability and comparability of net asset information by making the assessment of legal enforceability more uniform across governments. For example, it should minimize the chances that a government will make an across-the-board determination that none or all of its enabling legislation restrictions are legally enforceable without considering each restriction individually. The additional accounting and financial reporting guidance should help governments determine how to respond to changes in the circumstances surrounding an enabling legislation restriction. The disclosure of the amount of net assets restricted by enabling legislation will allow users to distinguish qualifying restrictions on resource use imposed through a government’s own actions from other types of net asset restrictions.
Unless otherwise specified, pronouncements of the GASB apply to financial reports of all state and local governmental entities, including general purpose governments; public benefit corporations and authorities; public employee retirement systems; and public utilities, hospitals and other healthcare providers, and colleges and universities. Paragraph 2 discusses the applicability of this Statement.