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.5wnmary of Statement No 34 Page 1 of 8 ~., G$v.f"~.$t.l AJ,l~Q~$t~IiI' $lltnQ(mi:$ lQllul Summaries I Status Preface and Summary of Statement No. 34 Basic Financial Statements-and Management's Discussion and Analysis-for State and Local Govemments (Issued 6/99) Preface This Statement establishes new financial reporting requirements for state and local governments throughout the United States. When implemented, it will create new information and will restructure much of the information that governments have presented in the past. We developed these new requirements to make annual reports more comprehensive and easier to understand and use. The GASB's first concepts Statemen~ . issued in 1987 after extensive due process, identifies what we believe are the most important objectives of financial reporting by govemments. Some of those objectives reaffirm the importance of information that governments already include in their annual reports. Other objectives point to a need for new information. For this reason, this Statement requires govemments to retain some of the information they currently report, but also requires them to reach beyond the familiar to new and different information. This Statement will result in reports that accomplish many of the objectives we emphasized in that concepts Statement. 'GASB Concept. Statement No.1. Objoclives of Financial Repelling. Retaining the Familiar Annual reports currently provide information about funds. Most funds are established by governing bodies (such as state legiSlatures, city councils, or school boards) to show restrictions on the planned use of resources or to measure, in the short term, the revenues and expenditures arising from certain activities. Concepts Statement 1 noted that annual reports should allow users to assess a governmenfs accountability by assisting them in determining compliance with finance-related laws, rules, and regulations. For this reason and others, this Statement requires governments to continue to present financial statements that proVide information about funds. The focus of these statements has been sharpened, however, by requiring governments to report information about their most important, or "major," funds, including a government's general fund. In current annual reports, fund information is reported in the aggregate by fund type, which often makes it difficult for users to assess accountability. http://accounting.rutgers.edulraw/gasb/stlsummary/gstsm34.html 2/8/02