GASB Proposes Amendment to Include Multiple-Employer Plans

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) today proposed new guidance intended to assist governments that participate in certain multiple-employer pension plans to meet the reporting requirements of GASB Statement No. 68, “Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions.”

The proposed guidance would apply to governments that participate in certain private or federally-sponsored, multiple-employer defined benefit pension plans, such as Taft-Hartley plans or plans with similar characteristics. The guidance would establish separate standards for note disclosures of descriptive information about the plan, benefit terms, contribution terms, and required supplementary information presenting required contribution amounts for the past 10 fiscal years. The requirements of the proposal would be effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15.

The GASB said that during the implementation of Statement No. 68, stakeholders raised concerns regarding the inability of governments whose employees are provided pension benefits through such multiple-employer pension plans to obtain required information related to pensions. Specifically, stakeholder concerns focused on the inability of those governments to obtain measurements and other relevant data points needed to comply with the requirements of the Statement.

The GASB’s Exposure Draft, “Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions Provided through Certain Multiple-Employer Defined Benefit Pension Plans,” is here. Comments are due by November 16.