NEWS RELEASE 02/12/02

Bart Hildreth is Appointed ABFM’s First Representative to the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council

W. Bartley Hildreth, D.P.A., Director, Kansas Public Finance Center and Regents Distinguished Professor of Public Finance, Wichita State University, has been appointed the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management’s (ABFM) first representative to the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC). The Financial Accounting Foundation approved the ABFM’s membership in the GASAC in December. The GASAC provides counsel on technical projects, priorities and accounting issues to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).

The ABFM’s membership comprises both governmental practitioners and academics in graduate programs in public administration and public affairs. It represents a unique and important constituency of the GASB—people who are responsible for teaching and training both future users and preparers of governmental financial statements, as well as financial statement users in their own right via research and consulting activities. As a section of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), the ABFM’s participation in the GASAC also establishes an unprecedented link between governmental standard setting and the ASPA’s diverse membership of more than 10,000 academics and practitioners.

At the GASAC’s next meeting to be held in May, the GASB will seek input on two of its projects before they are exposed for public comment—Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) and Deposit and Investment Risks. Postemployment benefits, other than pensions—such as retiree health insurance—are generally not reported by governments in their financial statements. The OPEB project is intended to establish rules on how governments should report the costs and liabilities related to those benefits. The other project considers how governments might disclose the potential risk of loss to which their investments and deposits are exposed.

Bart welcomes feedback from ABFM members on these and other issues. He can be reached at (316) 978-6332 or bart.hildreth@wichita.edu.

About the Government Accounting Standards Board

Formed in 1984, the GASB is the independent, not-for-profit organization that establishes and improves financial accounting and reporting standards for state and local governments. Its seven members are drawn from the Board’s diverse constituency, including preparers and auditors of government financial statements, users of those statements and members of the academic community. The Financial Accounting Foundation is responsible for funding, overseeing and selecting the members of the GASB and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). More information about the work of the GASB is available on its website at www.gasb.org.