Statement No. 82
Pension Issues—an amendment of GASB Statements No. 67, No. 68, and No. 73
(Issued 03/16)
The objective of this Statement is to address certain issues that have been raised with respect to Statements No. 67, Financial Reporting for Pension Plans, No. 68, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions, and No. 73, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions and Related Assets That Are Not within the Scope of GASB Statement 68, and Amendments to Certain Provisions of GASB Statements 67 and 68. Specifically, this Statement addresses issues regarding (1) the presentation of payroll-related measures in required supplementary information, (2) the selection of assumptions and the treatment of deviations from the guidance in an Actuarial Standard of Practice for financial reporting purposes, and (3) the classification of payments made by employers to satisfy employee (plan member) contribution requirements.
Presentation of Payroll-Related Measures in Required Supplementary Information
Prior to the issuance of this Statement, Statements 67 and 68 required presentation of covered-employee payroll, which is the payroll of employees that are provided with pensions through the pension plan, and ratios that use that measure, in schedules of required supplementary information. This Statement amends Statements 67 and 68 to instead require the presentation of covered payroll, defined as the payroll on which contributions to a pension plan are based, and ratios that use that measure.
Selection of Assumptions
This Statement clarifies that a deviation, as the term is used in Actuarial Standards of Practice issued by the Actuarial Standards Board, from the guidance in an Actuarial Standard of Practice is not considered to be in conformity with the requirements of Statement 67, Statement 68, or Statement 73 for the selection of assumptions used in determining the total pension liability and related measures.
Classification of Employer-Paid Member Contributions
This Statement clarifies that payments that are made by an employer to satisfy contribution requirements that are identified by the pension plan terms as plan member contribution requirements should be classified as plan member contributions for purposes of Statement 67 and as employee contributions for purposes of Statement 68. It also requires that an employer’s expense and expenditures for those amounts 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 (for example, as salaries and wages or as fringe benefits).
Effective Date
The requirements of this Statement are effective for reporting periods beginning after June 15, 2016, except for the requirements of this Statement for the selection of assumptions in a circumstance in which an employer’s pension liability is measured as of a date other than the employer’s most recent fiscal year-end. In that circumstance, the requirements for the selection of assumptions are effective for that employer in the first reporting period in which the measurement date of the pension liability is on or after June 15, 2017. Earlier application is encouraged.
How the Changes in This Proposed Statement Will Improve Financial Reporting
The requirements of this Statement will improve financial reporting by enhancing consistency in the application of financial reporting requirements to certain pension issues.
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.