Category: Accounting and Financial Reporting (page 2 of 2)

There are two sides to every coin: Or is there Common Sense about Cost Accounting in Government?

In the 1990s there was a wave of euphoria about cost accounting and particularly Activity Based Costing (ABC).  One book in particular stands out in my mind as particularly euphoric: Common Cents: The ABC Performance Breakthrough by Stephen Turney.  While it had a clever title, few people remember this book now, but many people remember ABC.  Many finance and budget managers do not recall ABC with fondness.  In fact, when government budget and finance managers are asked about the use of ABC in their organizations now, most will say that they are not using it.  However, when asked if they are doing some form of cost accounting, the measure is much higher.  In this post, I explore why budget and finance managers are willing to say that they are doing cost accounting and not ABC.  I further explore (and mix) the metaphor of common sense/cents about cost accounting by thinking of its uses as two sides of the same coin.

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Invitation to Comment – Or Invitation to Disaster?? The Long Slog to a New Financial Reporting Model Begins!

Well, it was inevitable. While we all are still reeling from the fun that has been GASB Statement No. 34, Basic Financial Statements – and Management’s Discussion and Analysis – for State and Local Governments that was issued in June 1999, another chapter in the never-ending saga has begun. Yes, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) recently added a new financial reporting model project to their official agenda. Now, the good news is that this type of project takes time – lots of time. The project that culminated in GASB Statement No. 34 was a 15-year process. The first implementers of GASB Statement No. 34 did so 15 years ago. So, one would hope that this is the beginning of another 15 year adventure and, at the end, most of us will be retired. Well, no such luck this time. While we do have time to possibly retire, the potential release of a new reporting model standard is currently slated for November 2021, with implementation certainly several years after that. However, we are not looking at a 15-year process.

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Whose Assets Are They Anyway?

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued GASB Statement No. 84, Fiduciary Activities the last week in January 2017.  Obviously, this is breaking news – stop the presses!  The standard is the culmination of a long-term, wide-ranging project to address accounting and financial reporting for the following:

GASB Statement No. 68)

With GASB Statement No. 84, the GASB provides definitive guidance on how all fiduciary activities of a governmental entity should be reported. It is now definitive that assets that are associated with a fiduciary activity and are legally entrusted should be reported in one of three specific fiduciary fund types.  Those assets that are not legally entrusted but still meet the definition of a fiduciary activity are to be reported in a separate fiduciary fund type. This does clear some inconsistencies with fiduciary fund reporting currently where entrusted and non-entrusted assets may be reported in the same fund type (although many of us probably never lost much sleep over it).

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It is Going to Cost HOW Much to Retire It??

Everyone is well aware, or should be, that the cost of retiring is escalating almost by the minute.  There are financial advisors and estate planners who solely focus on enabling us to have a shot at a decent retirement, relatively free of financial concern.  Employers in both the public and private sectors are recognizing mammoth liabilities for the pension resources they are holding in trust for their employees.  But, are employees all that are going to retire from a state or local government?  Is that the only long-term cost that a governmental entity is going to be liable for (above and beyond normal indebtedness)?  The answer is obviously no or I would not be writing this post.

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Are all North Carolina County Property Tax Appraisers Subject to USPAP?

This is the exact question that I was asked recently.

“Are all North Carolina, county, ad valorem, real estate appraisers subject to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP)?”

This could be a very short blog post. The answer to the question is, “no”. But a different question, “Should all North Carolina county ad valorem appraisers comply with USPAP?” leads to a more in depth discussion.  The answer to that question is, “yes”.  I believe if you act as an appraiser, you should comply with USPAP.

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Dark Stores

There are many worthy assessment-related questions posed on PTAX and elsewhere that I hope we can address during the life of this new blog. But given our blog title, Death and Taxes, and a topic looming around us that some have coined Dark Stores, it seems like a dark and creepy coincidence to start right here.
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Welcome!

Benjamin Frankin, (1706-1790) , North American printer, publisher, writer, scientist, inventor and statesman. Source: Wkipedia

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789

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