The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued GASB Statement No. 95, Postponement of the Effective Dates of Certain Authoritative Guidance, in May 2020. This Statement provides temporary relief to governments in light of the COVID-19 pandemic by postponing the effective dates of certain provisions in the statements and implementation guides that first became effective or are scheduled to become effective for periods beginning after June 15, 2018, and later. Most effective dates were postponed by one year. Further details on the postponement of the effective dates can be found here on the GASB website: GASB Statement No. 95. It’s important to know the effective dates of new guidance that may impact your local government so you can plan for proper implementation.

I want to highlight two statements that may have a significant impact on your local government—GASB Statement No. 84, Fiduciary Activities, and GASB Statement No. 87, Leases, and the related implementation guides. You may have already implemented one or both of these statements or you may be in the process.

• GASB Statement No. 84 establishes criteria for identifying fiduciary activities of all state and local governments. The focus of the criteria generally is on (1) whether a government is controlling the assets of the fiduciary activity and (2) the beneficiaries with whom a fiduciary relationship exists. The original effective date was for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018. GASB Statement No. 95 postponed the effective date by one year. Consequently, local governments will need to implement no later than for fiscal years ending December 31, 2020 and June 30, 2021. Early application is permitted.
• The objective of GASB Statement No. 87 is to better meet the information needs of financial statement users by improving accounting and financial reporting for leases by governments. This Statement requires recognition of certain lease assets and liabilities for leases that previously were classified as operating leases and recognized as inflows of resources or outflows of resources based on the payment provisions of the contract. It establishes a single model for lease accounting based on the foundational principle that leases are financings of the right to use an underlying asset. The original effective date was for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019. GASB Statement No. 95 postponed the effective date by 18 months. Consequently, local governments will need to implement no later than for fiscal years ending June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2022. Early application is permitted.

HintonBurdick will be holding its annual Local Government Seminar on May 20, 2021. The virtual seminar will include a GASB Update session that will cover the above statements. We invite you to join us by registering for the webcast.