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-24- GASB STATEMENT NO. 90, MAJORITY EQUITY INTEREST—AN AMENDMENT OF GASB STATEMENTS NO. 14 AND NO. 61 The primary objectives of this statement are to improve the consistency and comparability of reporting a government’s majority equity interest in a legally separate organization and to improve the relevance of financial statement information for certain component units. It specifies that a majority equity interest in a legally separate organization should be reported as an investment if a government’s holding of the equity interest meets the definition of an investment. It further specifies that such investments should generally be measured using the equity method, unless it is held by a special-purpose government engaged only in fiduciary activities, a fiduciary fund, or an endowment (including permanent and term endowments) or permanent fund, in which case the majority equity interest should be measured at fair value. All other holdings of a majority equity interest in a legally separate organization that do not meet the definition of an investment result in the government being financially accountable for the legally separate organization and, therefore, the government should report that organization as a component unit, and should report an asset related to the majority equity interest using the equity method. This statement also requires that a component unit in which a government has a 100 percent equity interest account for its assets, deferred outflows of resources, liabilities, and deferred inflows of resources at acquisition value at the date the government acquired a 100 percent equity interest in the component unit. Transactions presented in flows statements of the component unit in that circumstance should include only transactions that occurred subsequent to the acquisition. The requirements of this statement are effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Earlier application is encouraged. The requirements should be applied retroactively, except for the provisions related to reporting a majority equity interest in a component unit and reporting a component unit if the government acquires a 100 percent equity interest, which should be applied prospectively. UNIFORM GUIDANCE, MICRO-PURCHASE THRESHOLD Under the Uniform Guidance for federal programs, a micro-purchase is one for goods or services that, due to its relatively low value, does not require the government to abide by many of its ordinary competitive procedures, including small business set-asides. Because the contract is theoretically such a low amount, the contracting officer can pick virtually whatever company and product he or she wants to satisfy the procurement, so long as the price is reasonable. The standard micro-purchase threshold has been amended to increase the threshold to $10,000, effective June 20, 2018. Entities are not required to increase the micro-purchase and simplified acquisition thresholds but, if they wish to do so, they must update their procurement policies and procedures to reflect the change in thresholds. They cannot retroactively make these changes effective prior to June 20, 2018.