Gregory Allison, Author at Death and Taxes

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ARP Accounting and Financial Reporting in North Carolina

October 21, 2022 / Gregory Allison / 1 Comment

Accounting and financial reporting guidance for American Rescue Plan monies seems to be a never-ending soap opera with constant twists and turns. While there is extensive GAAP-guidance for government mandated nonexchange transactions related to asset, liability, revenue, and expense/expenditure recognition, it has proven more challenging to readily fit all the square evolving ARP guidelines and options into the GAAP round holes. This blogpost focuses on asset, liability, revenue and expense/expenditure recognition guidelines for the various ways that ARP funds may be received, managed, and expended.

GASB Considers Delayed Implementation of Several Significant Standards

March 30, 2020 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

As a response to the current Covid-19 pandemic, on March 26, 2020, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) added a fast-track project to their agenda. This project is a proposal to consider the delay of required implementation of pending statements and related Implementation Guide provisions that were initially set to be effective for fiscal years that begin on or after June 15, 2018. This would encompass several significant statements such as GASB Statement No. 84, Fiduciary Activities, and GASB Statement No. 87, Leases. Specifically, an Exposure Draft is expected in April with the final guidance anticipated in May.

January 2019 Certified Finance Officer Exams Registration Now Available

January 10, 2019 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

Registration for the NCGFOA Certified Finance Officer Exams on January 24 and 25 opened today, Thursday, January 10. The following links are for instructions on the registration process and for the registration links page directly. Please note that the School of Government has a new registration system and you may be required to create an account if you have not recently. All of this information is in the instructions page.

REGISTRATION WILL BE AVAILABLE UNTIL FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, AT 5:00 P.M.

Are You Certifiable 2.0?

October 22, 2018 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

This is a revised and updated version of the “Are You Certifiable?” that was posted in “Death & Taxes” on November 11, 2016. This post reflects the new online process for testing in the North Carolina Finance Officers Certification Program, as well as the overall process and requirements to obtain certification recognition. The previous version of the blogpost has been removed.

The above question has been posed to me time and again over the years, probably for obvious reasons! (And the quick answer is…yes, I am! But I digress…) However, it was not posed from the perspective of how I am using it in this context. One of the most common phone calls or e-mails that I receive on a regular basis relates to the North Carolina Finance Officers Certification Program. As more and more baby boomers have their retirement lunches and collect their gold watches (click here for more on that topic!), the turnover in local government finance across the state and the infusion of newly minted local government finance employees has contributed to the exploding interest in this program. This blog focuses on the specifics of the program, educational and testing requirements, and other frequently asked questions. This is an updated version of a previously posted blog about the certification program to address the new by-laws and the introduction of the online testing format.

NCGFOA CERTIFIED FINANCE OFFICER EXAMS REGISTRATION OPENED

October 17, 2018 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

Registration for the NCGFOA Certified Finance Officer Exams on October 25 and 26 will opened today, Wednesday, October 17 at 8:00 a.m. The following links are for instructions on the registration process and for the registration links page directly. Please note that the School of Government has a new registration system and you may be required to create an account if you have not recently. All of this information is in the instructions page.

REGISTRATION WILL BE AVAILABLE UNTIL MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, AT NOON.

NCGFOA Finance Officer Certification Exams Schedule Update

September 17, 2018 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

As was announced in August, the first online offering for the NCGFOA Finance Officer Certification Exams was scheduled to be Thursday and Friday, September 27 and 28. Given the widespread impact of Hurricane Florence and the demands that are going to be placed on management and finance officials over the next weeks and even months, the Certification Committee believed it best to postpone the first offering. Also, the University has been closed since late last week and is now dealing with unexpected IT issues, thus this will give them time to approve the final platform, a task that was scheduled for this week. The first online exams are now scheduled for Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26. Afterwards, the online exams will be held on the final successive Thursday and Friday of January, May, and September each year.

Of Interest to You

January 30, 2018 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

In November 2017, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued an Exposure Draft entitled Accounting for Interest Cost during the Period of Construction. The GASB is proposing a standard that would significantly change the way certain interest costs are accounted for during the period of construction of capital assets. And (for once) for the better! If approved in its current form (and I do not anticipate any real challenges to this proposal), governmental entities would simply recognize interest as an expense or an expenditure in the period it’s incurred, whether or not it is during the construction period. As such, there would be no further interest capitalization to calculate and report.

It’s the Lease of My Worries!

November 7, 2017 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) recently released GASB Statement No. 87, Leases. This project is a bit unusual in that it basically mirrors a similar recent project of the Financial Accounting Standards Board. In the end, both the private sector and the public sector will be accounting for operating lease arrangements in basically the same way. When implemented, this standard will change how the accounting and financial reporting is done for most operating lease arrangements, with very limited exceptions. The standard will not affect, however, how capital lease arrangements are currently accounted for and reported.

What Fun Awaits?

July 19, 2017 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) apparently never slows down! The past several years have seen an explosion of activity that includes significant changes to governmental financial reporting – and there is MUCH more to come! A future blog post will focus on the most recently approved pronouncement – GASB Statement No. 87, Leases, which provides guidance for lease contracts for nonfinancial assets, and is consistent with private-sector lease requirements recently approved by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). This blog post, however, is a quick peek into the current GASB agenda and the expected timelines for those projects.

Introducing the 2017-2018 Finance Calendar of Duties

The UNC School of Government has just posted its most recent Local Finance Bulletin, the 2017-2018 Finance Calendar of Duties for City and County Officials, prepared by Gregory S. Allison. This annual publication is a monthly guide for finance and budgeting officials on all statutory and regulatory reporting and administrative responsibilities. The finance calendar has been a publication of the School of Government for decades and is an online, free resource for finance officers, budget officers, clerks, and other administrative officials.