Summaries / Status

Summary of Statement No. 50
Pension Disclosures—an amendment of GASB Statements No. 25 and No. 27
(Issued 05/07)

This Statement more closely aligns the financial reporting requirements for pensions with those for other postemployment benefits (OPEB) and, in doing so, enhances information disclosed in notes to financial statements or presented as required supplementary information (RSI) by pension plans and by employers that provide pension benefits. The reporting changes required by this Statement amend applicable note disclosure and RSI requirements of Statements No. 25, Financial Reporting for Defined Benefit Pension Plans and Note Disclosures for Defined Contribution Plans, and No. 27, Accounting for Pensions by State and Local Governmental Employers, to conform with requirements of Statements No. 43, Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefit Plans Other Than Pension Plans, and No. 45, Accounting and Financial Reporting by Employers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions.

Summary of Standards

This Statement amends Statements 25 and 27 to require defined benefit pension plans and sole and agent employers present the following information related to note disclosures or RSI:

• Notes to financial statements should disclose the funded status of the plan as of the most recent actuarial valuation date. Defined benefit pension plans also should disclose actuarial methods and significant assumptions used in the most recent actuarial valuation in notes to financial statements instead of in notes to RSI.
   
• If the aggregate actuarial cost method is used to determine the annual required contribution of the employer (ARC), notes to financial statements should disclose the funded status of the plan, and a schedule of funding progress should be presented as RSI, using the entry age actuarial cost method. Plans and employers also should disclose that the purpose of doing so is to provide information that serves as a surrogate for the funded status and funding progress of the plan.
   
• Notes to financial statements should include a reference linking the funded status disclosure in the notes to financial statements to the required schedule of funding progress in RSI.
   
• If applicable, notes to financial statements should disclose legal or contractual maximum contribution rates. In addition, if relevant, they should disclose that the maximum contribution rates have not been explicitly taken into consideration in the projection of pension benefits for financial accounting measurement purposes.
   
• If an actuarial assumption is different for successive years, notes to financial statements should disclose the initial and ultimate rates.

This Statement amends Statement 25 to require defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution plans to disclose in the notes to financial statements the methods and assumptions used to determine the fair value of investments, if the fair value is based on other than quoted market prices.

This Statement amends Statement 27 to require cost-sharing employers to include, in the note disclosure of the required contribution rates of the employer(s) in dollars and the percentage of that amount contributed for the current year and each of the two preceding years, how the contractually required contribution rate is determined (for example, by statute or by contract, or on an actuarially determined basis) or that the cost-sharing plan is financed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

This Statement also amends Statement 27 to require that, if a cost-sharing plan does not issue a publicly available stand-alone plan financial report prepared in accordance with the requirements of Statement 25, as amended, and the plan is not included in the financial report of another entity, each employer in that plan should present as RSI the schedules of funding progress and employer contributions for the plan (and notes to these schedules). Each employer also should disclose that the information presented relates to the cost-sharing plan as a whole, of which the employer is one participating employer, and should provide information helpful for understanding the scale of the information presented relative to the employer.

Effective Date and Transition

This Statement is effective for periods beginning after June 15, 2007, except for requirements related to the use of the entry age actuarial cost method for the purpose of reporting a surrogate funded status and funding progress of plans that use the aggregate actuarial cost method, which are effective for periods for which the financial statements and RSI contain information resulting from actuarial valuations as of June 15, 2007, or later. Early implementation is encouraged. In the initial year of implementation, defined benefit pension plans and sole and agent employers that use the aggregate actuarial cost method to determine the ARC are required to present elements of information in the schedule of funding progress using the entry age actuarial cost method as of the most recent actuarial valuation date. In subsequent years, plans and employers should add to that schedule information as of subsequent actuarial valuation dates until the requirements of Statements 25 and 27, as amended, with regard to the minimum number of years or actuarial valuations to be included have been met.

How the Changes in This Statement Will Improve Financial Reporting

Statements 43 and 45, which were developed using Statements 25 and 27 as models, improved the transparency and decision usefulness of financial reporting as a result of decisions by the Board to modify, for financial reporting by OPEB plans and employers, certain requirements related to note disclosures and RSI. This Statement similarly is intended to improve the transparency and usefulness of financial reporting by pension plans and employers by amending Statements 25 and 27 to conform with the applicable note disclosure and RSI modifications adopted in the OPEB Statements.
 

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 3 discusses the applicability of this Statement.