Statement: Implementation of GASB 50
GASB 50 more closely aligns the financial reporting requirements for pensions with those for other post-employment benefits (OPEB) and enhances information disclosed in the notes to the financial statements or presented as required supplementary information. TBR is considered a cost-sharing employer. While the Statement includes provisions for stand-alone pension plans and sole, agent, and cost-sharing employers, only the provisions related to cost-sharing employers will be addressed in this summary.
Amendments to Statement 27
GASB 50 amends paragraphs 20-22 and footnotes 10 and 17 of GASB 27, Accounting for Pensions by State and Local Governmental Employers. The Statement includes new financial statement disclosures and Required Supplementary Information.
Notes to the Financial Statements
Employers should include the following additional disclosures about the funding policy in their notes to the financial statements for each defined benefit pension plan in which they participate:
- Legal or contractual minimum contribution rates of the employer should be disclosed, if applicable.
- For cost-sharing employers, the requirement of Statement 27 for disclosure of the required contribution rates of the employers in dollars and the percentage of that amount contributed for the current year and each of the two preceding years should include a description of how the required contribution rate is determined (for example, by statute or by contract, or on an actuarially determined basis) or that the plan is financed on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Required Supplementary Information
If the cost-sharing plan in which an employer participates does not issue and make publicly available a stand-alone plan financial report prepared in accordance with the requirements of GASB 25 and the plan is not included in the financial report of a public employee retirement system or another entity, the cost-sharing employer should present as RSI in its own financial report schedules of funding progress and employer contributions for the plan, prepared in accordance with GASB 25. The employer should disclose that the information presented relates to the cost-sharing plan as a whole, of which the employer is one participating employer, and should provide information helpful for understanding the scale of the information presented relative to the employer. Both cost-sharing plans in which TBR institutions participate (SETHEEPP and the Federal Retirement Program) are included in the financial report of either TCRS or CSRS, therefore, the RSI requirements of GASB 50 are not applicable to TBR.
Effective Date
This Statement is effective beginning FY 2007-08.