Government

A proposed statement from GASB would require permanent and term endowments, including permanent funds, to report the fair value of land and other real estate held as investments and the changes in that fair value as investment income. The new standard also would require disclosure of methods and significant assumptions used in determining fair value, as well as other information the entities currently disclose for other investments reported at fair value.

Current accounting standards require endowments to report those investments at historical cost, although other entities that exist for the purpose of generating income—such as pension plans—report them at fair value.

The proposal, titled Land and Other Real Estate Held as Investments by Endowments, would be effective for financial statement periods beginning after June 15, 2008. The exposure draft is available at www.gasb.org . Comments are due June 29.