Government

The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) issued Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) 33, Pensions, Other Retirement Benefits, and Other Post-employment Benefits: Reporting Gains and Losses from Changes in Assumptions and Selecting Discount Rates and Valuation Dates.

The standards in SFFAS 33 require (1) gains and losses from changes in long-term assumptions used to estimate liabilities for federal employee pension and other retirement benefits, and other post-employment benefits to be displayed as discrete line items on the governmentwide entity’s and the component entities’ statements of net cost; and (2) components of the expense associated with such liabilities to be disclosed in notes to the financial statements. The statement also provides standards for selecting the discount rate assumption and the valuation date for such liabilities.

“This statement will provide users discrete information about operating costs and about nonoperating costs so they can make intelligent decisions,” FASAB Chairman Tom Allen said in a press release.

SFFAS 33 is effective for periods beginning after Sept. 30, 2009. The statement is available at www.fasab.gov.