GASB STATEMENT 34 ADVISORY COMMITTEE

 

Minutes

 

August 1, 2000

 

 



LOCATION           Conference Room 222

                              Wade Hampton State Office Building

                              Columbia, South Carolina

 

TIME                    10:00 AM


ATTENDEES        Barbara Hevener - South Carolina Office of Comptroller General (OCG), Program Sponsor

Kathy Glass – KPMG, Program Manager

Bruce Dorman - South Carolina Department of Public Safety

                (Representing Debbie Brumbaugh)

Jenny Butler - South Carolina Department of Health & Human Services

John Campbell - South Carolina College & University Controller's Group

Phil Campolo - South Carolina Governor's Office - Executive Control of State

Becky Carver - South Carolina Department of Mental Health

                 (Representing Boyd Rhoten)

Rich Gilbert - South Carolina State Auditor's Office

Lanna Harris - State Budget and Control Board, Internal Operations

Billy Martin - South Carolina Employment Security Commission

Renee Moore - State Budget and Control Board, Office of Information Resources

Pat O’Cain - South Carolina Office of Comptroller General, Data Processing

Donna Parker - South Carolina Department of Health & Human Services (Guest)

Elaine Peterson - South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee-Cooper)

Mike Reeves - South Carolina Department of Social Services

                   (Representing Billy Gossett)

Lynda Robinson - South Carolina Department of Education

Ed Walton - University of South Carolina (Guest)

Teresa Welsh - South Carolina Department of Mental Health (Guest)

Debra White - South Carolina Department of Transportation

Norma Price - South Carolina Office of Comptroller General

                                                            (Administrative Coordination and Minutes)


AGENDA

 

·        Welcome and introduction

·        GASB Statement 34 resource update

§         Technical literature

§         OCG website

§         Other websites

·        Agency monitoring activities

§         Quarterly progress reports

§         Reporting other significant issues

·        Tentative closing package/ training schedule

§         Overall awareness/ education

§         STARS changes/ significant issues

§         Revised closing package/training Revised closing package/training

·        Other discussion/ issues

 

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

 

           At 10:00 a.m. on August 1, 2000, Barbara Hevener called the meeting to order.  Barbara welcomed everyone and asked new attendees to introduce themselves. She then turned the program over to Kathy Glass.

 

GASB STATEMENT 34 RESOURCE UPDATE

 

Technical Literature

               Kathy informed the representatives of several books that would be of interest and help during the GASB 34 implementation process. 

 

OCG’s Website (http://www.cg.state.sc.us/gasb34/gasb34.htm)

           Barbara said that the OCG’s GASB 34 website now is up and running and that it includes several items of interest to Advisory Committee members and other state agency accountants.  She also informed the representatives that the OCG is working to add a web page of GASB 34 links to the site.  This would allow users to easily navigate to selected other GASB 34 websites.  This new page should be available within the next few weeks.

Other Websites

 

              Barbara distributed to attendees a list of websites that will form the basis of the OCG’s GASB 34 links page.  She pointed out that the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the City of Orlando, Florida, one of the few governments to have implemented GASB 34 early, is on the web in Adobe Acrobat format.  She also mentioned that GASB 34 training slides in Powerpoint format are available on the web, and that some of the other states have put their GASB 34 policy memorandums, etc., on the web.  A primary source of information about GASB 34 is the GASB’s own website.  That site has full information on how to purchase the technical literature that Kathy mentioned earlier in the meeting.

 

AGENCY MONITORING ACTIVITIES  

Quarterly Progress Reports

 

           Kathy discussed the importance of the quarterly reporting process that will begin for the quarter ending December 31, 2000.  Each quarter, agencies will be asked to provide a brief written synopsis of progress on their GASB 34 implementation projects in accordance with a format that will be communicated at a later date.  These reports will give the OCG critical information regarding how agencies are progressing with their GASB 34 implementation projects.  In some cases, the Comptroller General’s Office may contact agencies to discuss certain aspects of their progress and to exchange ideas regarding the direction of their efforts.  The success of the statewide implementation of GASB 34 for the 2001-2002 CAFR depends on the success of implementation efforts at individual state agencies.  Information in the statewide CAFR is only as good as the financial data that agencies provide to the OCG via financial statements or closing packages.   As agencies encounter implementation issues, the quarterly reporting process should help to ensure that these issues are brought to the attention of appropriate OCG staff members, who may be able to provide some guidance to assist with resolution.  Another purpose of the quarterly reporting process is to help ensure that all parties stay on schedule so that the State as a whole will meet the required implementation dates as set forth in GASB 34.

 

Reporting Other Significant Issues

 

           Agencies are encouraged not to wait until quarterly reports are due to communicate GASB 34 issues to the OCG.  Ed Walton of USC has already begun communicating some of the issues he has encountered in the infrastructure area to Barbara Hevener of the Comptroller General’s Office.  Both parties agree that this has resulted in a valuable exchange of ideas regarding how these issues need to be addressed in the GASB 34 implementation process.  The Comptroller General’s staff wants to hear about all State agency issues and to exchange data and ideas in areas involving statewide GASB 34 accounting policies.

 

TENTATIVE CLOSING PACKAGE/ TRAINING SCHEDULE

 

Overall Awareness/ Education

           Kathy suggests that everyone attend the GFOA of SC Fall Conference in Hilton Head in September if at all possible.  On Monday, September 25, KPMG will speak at the General Session on significant issues the local governments, states, and higher education institutions are identifying with GASB 34 implementation.  That session will spend some time explaining how to develop a GASB 34 implementation plan.  During an afternoon concurrent session on the same date, KPMG will focus on significant GASB 34 accounting issues for state agencies. 

           The OCG also plans to provide three phases of training for state agencies.  Phase I will be somewhat similar in content to the KPMG presentations described above.  Any known STARS changes also will be communicated during this session.  Tentatively scheduled for October 2000, this training is expected to last approximately two hours.

 

STARS Changes/Significant Issues

Phase II of the OCG’s planned agency training is scheduled for May 2001.  This phase will discuss in detail the changes in STARS procedures that agencies will need to adopt beginning on July 1, 2001, in order to provide data needed to comply with GASB 34.  The OCG is committed to doing everything it can to keep these STARS changes to a minimum.  The Phase II training also will identify and discuss any significant agency implementation issues that have arisen in the course of the GASB 34 project to date.

 

Revised Closing Packages/Training

The bulk of the planned agency training is scheduled to occur during training Phase III, expected to occur in May 2002.  This training will instruct agencies how to complete the year-end closing packages that will have been revised to provide data needed to comply with GASB 34.  The OCG hopes to be able to obtain the information required to properly record beginning net asset balances at the government-wide level by requiring agencies to begin completing revised closing packages for the 2001-2002 fiscal year.  The OCG also may need some limited detailed data as of June 30, 2001, however, for this purpose.  The project has not yet reached the point of developing precise information regarding what will be needed to record beginning net asset balances.  The Phase III training will take several days.  It will be almost as broad in scope as the training that agencies attended in 1987 when South Carolina first began producing a statewide CAFR.  To allow agency accountants maximum flexibility, agencies will be given several choices of days on which to attend Phase III training.  Some agencies may be asked to contribute issues and examples during the curriculum development phase so that these can be shared with other agencies in the training sessions.

 

OTHER DISCUSSION/ ISSUES

Kathy encouraged participants to contact her or Barbara between meetings if they have issues or ideas that they want to discuss at meetings.

Ed Walton and John Campbell discussed how they have divided up issues among the various higher education institutions.  Barbara commented that colleges and universities have a big job ahead of them because the accounting model that they use now is so very different from the model that GASB Statements 34 and 35 will require them to use.  But these institutions are working very diligently and effectively toward identifying issues and developing workable plans to address those issues.

           Kathy pointed out that GASB 34 will require many estimates and “judgment calls” and that it is important to discuss these with auditors sooner rather than later.  Both Rich Gilbert of the State Auditor’s Office (rgilbert@osa.state.sc.us) and Barbara Hevener of the OCG (bhevener@cg.state.sc.us) requested that agencies e-mail written drafts of issues and questions to them, and they will try to respond as quickly as possible.

 

ADOPTION OF MINUTES/NEXT MEETING

           The committee approved and adopted the minutes of the meeting of June 6, 2000. 

           The group decided not to meet in September due to some actual and potential scheduling conflicts for some members relating to previously scheduled training and the holiday on Monday, September 4.  Accordingly, the next meeting will be held on October 3, 2000.   On that date, members are requested to again meet in Conference Room 222 of the Wade Hampton State Office Building at 10:00 AM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara C. Hevener

Program Sponsor

/bpg

Enclosures

 

Click here to view the handout provided to Advisory Committee members at the meeting.

 

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