The purpose of this bulletin is to provide LOSAP sponsors model notes that should be included with their annual financial reports. These notes will provide increased disclosure about the financial condition and operations of LOSAP’s. Revised August 2008 (Originally Issued January 2008)

Model Notes:
Defined Benefit Plans [pdf]
Defined Contribution Plans [pdf]

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform local government officials of the establishment of new revenue and appropriation codes to account for and report homeland security aid and related expenditures.

The purpose of this bulletin is to explain the new GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) reporting requirements for fund balance and special revenue funds, and the effects these reporting requirements will have on the Annual Update Document (AUD) filed by municipalities and the ST-3 filed by school districts.
Updated April 2011 (Originally Issued November 2010)

GASB Statement No. 49, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pollution Remediation Obligations. This statement explains when a government would be required to report a liability in its financial statements related to cleaning up pollution or contamination. The statement also establishes a probability weighted method that a government would be required to use to determine the estimated amount of pollution obligation liabilities that would be reported in its financial statements.

GASB Statement 48 makes a distinction between sales of receivables and future revenues, and the pledging of receivables or future revenues to repay a collateralized borrowing. The distinction is important because the cash received from a borrowing would result in a liability while the cash received from a sale would most likely be recorded as revenue or deferred revenue, depending on the transaction.

The objective of the project was to provide a financial reporting model that provides users of financial statements with information which will enhance their understanding of governmental operations and ultimately result in an increased accountability by the governmental units.

Changes in Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 457 require local governments to hold deferred compensation in trust for employees and their beneficiaries. Previously, IRC Section 457 required that these assets remained the property of the employer until paid or made available to the participant; as such, they were held in an agency capacity and were subject to the claims of the government’s general creditors.

This bulletin highlights changes to fire district accounting and reporting requirements, and clarifies the new auditing requirements.

GASB Statement No. 34 makes significant changes to the accounting and reporting requirements for expendable and nonexpendable trusts. The statement eliminates the designation of expendable and nonexpendable trust funds and creates new funds based on the ability to use these resources for governmental purposes.

Since 1990 the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC), through its revolving loan fund, has provided over 330 local governments and public authorities nearly $5 billion in long and short term loans to finance eligible clean water and drinking water projects.

This bulletin describes the types of loans that are currently available from the revolving fund (long term leverage loans, short term direct loans, and long term direct loans) and the proper accounting treatment for each loan type.