2016-12-31 Management Letter - Laserfiche WebLink

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Future Accounting Standard Changes - Continued Effective Date This Statement is effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2017. Earlier application is encouraged. How the Changes in This Statement Will Improve Financial Reporting The requirements of this Statement will improve the decision -usefulness of information in employer and governmental nonemployer contributing entity financial reports and will enhance its value for assessing accountability and interperiod equity by requiring recognition of the entire OPEB liability and a more comprehensive measure of OPEB expense. Decision -usefulness and accountability also will be enhanced through new note disclosures and required supplementary information, as follows: • More robust disclosures of assumptions will allow for better informed assessments of the reasonableness of OPEB measurements. • Explanations of how and why the OPEB liability changed from year to year will improve transparency. • The summary OPEB liability information, including ratios, will offer an indication of the extent to which the total OPEB liability is covered by resources held by the OPEB plan, if any. • For employers that provide benefits through OPEB plans that are administered through trusts that meet the specified criteria, the contribution schedules will provide measures to evaluate decisions related to contributions. The consistency, comparability, and transparency of the information reported by employers and governmental nonemployer contributing entities about OPEB transactions will be improved by requiring: • The use of a discount rate that considers the availability of the OPEB plan's fiduciary net position associated with the OPEB of current active and inactive employees and the investment horizon of those resources, rather than utilizing only the long-term expected rate of return regardless of whether the OPEB plan's fiduciary net position is projected to be sufficient to make projected benefit payments and is expected to be invested using a strategy to achieve that return. • A single method of attributing the actuarial present value of projected benefit payments to periods of employee service, rather than allowing a choice among six methods with additional variations. • Immediate recognition in OPEB expense, rather than a choice of recognition periods, of the effects of changes of benefit terms. • Recognition of OPEB expense that incorporates deferred outflows of resources and deferred inflows of resources related to OPEB over a defined, closed period, rather than a choice between an open or closed period. GASB Statement No. 80 - Blending Requirements for Certain Component Units - an Amendment of GASB Statement No. 14 Summary The objective of the Statement is to improve financial reporting by clarifying the financial statement presentation requirements for certain component units. This Statement amends the blending requirements established in paragraph 53 of Statement No. 14, The Financial Reporting Entity, as amended. This Statement amends the blending requirements for the financial statement presentation of component units of all state and local governments. The additional criterion requires blending of a component unit incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in which the primary government is the sole corporate member. The additional criterion does not apply to component units included in the financial reporting entity pursuant to the provisions of Statement No. 39, Determining Whether Certain Organizations Are Component Units. _19 -