Tag: GASB

WEAK ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ENABLE ILLINOIS BUDGET DEFICITS

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/weak-accounting-standards-enable-illinois-budget-deficits/

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Excerpt:

Bad accounting has helped Illinois politicians avoid balancing the budget for 20 years, despite a constitutional requirement to pass a balanced budget each year. Government accounting standards that fail to offer transparency and accuracy in financial reporting have also contributed to the state’s $260 billion pension crisis, the primary reason Illinois has the lowest credit rating any state has ever received.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has proposed changes it calls “improvements” to the accounting standards for governments. However, watchdog groups such as Truth in Accounting have criticized the proposed changes and urged the adoption of more stringent standards that would require governments to balance their budgets the way most businesses are required to do. Illinois has grown accustomed to using lax accounting methods to hide its budget deficits, racking up debt year after year. The state’s taxpayers would benefit from tougher standards that impose fiscal discipline.

Author(s): Justin Carlson

Publication Date: 19 February 2021

Publication Site: Illinois Policy Institute

GASB Fact Sheet: Financial Reporting Model Improvements

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.gasb.org/cs/Satellite?c=Document_C&cid=1176176133242&pagename=GASB%2FDocument_C%2FDocumentPage

Executive Summary: https://www.gasb.org/cs/Satellite?c=Document_C&cid=1176176134838&pagename=GASB%2FDocument_C%2FDocumentPage

Excerpt:

Would the GASB’s proposal treat borrowing as revenue?

No. In fact, the proceeds of bond sales, bank loans, and other forms of borrowing are not reported as revenue in the governmental funds under the existing standards. Under the proposal, those proceeds increase fund balance in the governmental funds but are reported as inflows (not revenues) in the resource flows statement. The governmental funds
statements are intended to report inflows and outflows of short-term financial resources, not revenues and expenses; that is the purpose of the government-wide financial statements. In the government-wide financial statements, the borrowing proceeds are recorded as an increase in cash and an increase in long-term debt.

Fund balance is the difference between assets and liabilities in the governmental funds. The portion of fund balance that comes from borrowing should not be mistaken for resources that can be used by a government for any purpose, such as paying bills or employee
salaries—that would be assigned fund balance and unassigned fund balance. Unspent borrowing proceeds are reported in accounts such as fund balance restricted for capital projects; in other words, in this example, those resources can be used only for investment in roads, buildings, equipment, and other capital assets.

Date Accessed: 22 February 2021

Publication Site: GASB

Illinois budget gimmicks continue; we have an opportunity to fix them!

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.truthinaccounting.org/news/detail/illinois-budget-gimmicks-continue-we-have-an-opportunity-to-fix-them#new_tab

Excerpt:

Cash basis accounting allows governments to ignore long-term liabilities, such as the pension and health care promises they made to their government workers, teachers, and firefighters. It also allows governments to shift money around or borrow money to make the budget appear balanced. This method is so deceptive that the IRS does not allow corporations making more than $26 million per year to use it. 

In his address, Gov. Pritzker highlighted that the budget includes the “full required pension payments,” which amounts to $9.3 billion. These payments are based upon a pension funding scheme so outrageous that an SEC official called it a “balloon payment on steroids.” 

After the state was charged with securities fraud for making such claims in bond offerings, the state had to start being honest in its bond offering documents. In the official statement related to the Illinois General Obligations Bonds of October 2020 is the following quote: “The State’s contributions to the retirement systems, while in conformity with State law, have been less than the contributions necessary to fully fund the retirement systems as calculated by the actuaries of the retirement systems.” These actuaries say the amount required to properly fund the pensions is $14.5 billion, which is $5.2 billion higher than the amount included in the Governor’s budget.

Author(s): Sheila Weinberg

Publication Date: 17 February 2021

Publication Site: Truth in Accounting

WEAK ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ENABLE ILLINOIS BUDGET DEFICITS

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/weak-accounting-standards-enable-illinois-budget-deficits/

Excerpt:

Bad accounting has helped Illinois politicians avoid balancing the budget for 20 years, despite a constitutional requirement to pass a balanced budget each year. Government accounting standards that fail to offer transparency and accuracy in financial reporting have also contributed to the state’s $260 billion pension crisis, the primary reason Illinois has the lowest credit rating any state has ever received.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has proposed changes it calls “improvements” to the accounting standards for governments. However, watchdog groups such as Truth in Accounting have criticized the proposed changes and urged the adoption of more stringent standards that would require governments to balance their budgets the way most businesses are required to do. Illinois has grown accustomed to using lax accounting methods to hide its budget deficits, racking up debt year after year. The state’s taxpayers would benefit from tougher standards that impose fiscal discipline.

Author(s): Justin Carlson

Publication Date: 19 February 2021

Publication Site: Illinois Policy Institute

Honest budgeting practices? Loans are not revenues

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: http://hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/28237/Honestbudgeting-practices-Loans-are-not-revenues

Excerpt:

In a Feb. 10, 2021, letter to David R. Bean, GASB director of research and technical activities, Institute Executive Vice President Joe Kent urged that Bean and his colleagues dismiss the proposals, “so government officials will have to deal honestly with public interest groups such as ours that seek sound budgeting practices and accountability.”

As explained by Kent, the proposed new accounting standard and accounting concept would require general and other state budgeted funds to have a “short-term” focus,[3] such as recognizing long-term transactions only “when payments are due.” That would allow lawmakers to continue sweeping long-term liabilities off the books.

“For example,” said Kent, “Hawaii’s latest general fund budget proposal listed $750 million of borrowing as proceeds under ‘other revenues’ being used to balance the budget.[4] We would expect the state Comprehensive Annual Financial Report to highlight this fact, but instead the CAFR’s governmental funds statements support the false claim that the budget has been balanced.” 

Author(s): Grassroot Institute

Publication Date: 15 February 2021

Publication Site: Hawaii Free Press

GASB proposals would stretch meaning of accrual accounting

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/gasb-proposals-would-stretch-meaning-of-accrual-accounting

Excerpt:

Every taxpayer and beneficiary of government services and benefits should care about good government accounting. Accountants and other financial professionals should take special note because GASB is attempting to change one of the basic tenets of accounting. This is a rare opportunity to convince GASB to reverse course and move toward true accrual accounting in budgeted funds statements.

GASB currently has two exposure drafts out for public comment: Project 3-20, “Recognition of Elements of Financial Statements,” and Project 3-25, “Financial Reporting Model Improvements.” Together, these proposals assert a foundation in something called the “short term financial resources measurement focus and accrual basis of accounting.”

The proposals, most importantly, do not relate to government-wide financial statements such as the Statement of Net Position (a balance sheet) and Statement of Activities (an income statement), both of which have significantly firmed up their accrual accounting foundations in the last decade. GASB’s proposals relate instead to governmental funds statements, such as those for general funds, which are widely used for budgeting purposes.

Author(s): Bill Bergman

Publication Date: 11 February 2021

Publication Site: Accounting Today

Critics Decry GASB Standards That Allow Governments to Hide Debt

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://townhall.com/columnists/johnnykampis/2021/02/05/critics-decry-gasb-standards-that-allow-governments-to-hide-debt-n2584229

Excerpt:

The Chicago-based Truth in Accounting (TIA), a financial watchdog, is fighting the efforts of the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) to enshrine a system of accounting into place the group says allows governments to paint a misleading picture of taxpayer debt.

GASB’s “Project 3-20: Recognition of Financial Statement Elements,” has seen its share of blowback from concerned parties. The concept would allow governments to continue their standard of cash-based accounting, which allows bureaucrats to prepare financial reports that show expenses only when the money is paid, not when the debt is incurred. TIA argues that this allows governments to show a rosier picture of taxpayer debt than what’s reality, helping government officials to kick the can down the road.

Author(s): Johnny Kampis

Publication Date: 5 February 2021

Publication Site: Townhall