Break from the Grind July 25, 2017

Personal Devices and Tasks a Distraction at Work

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Professionals surveyed by staffing firm OfficeTeam said they squander an average of 56 minutes per day, or the equivalent of nearly five hours a week, using their mobile device for non-work activities in the office.

In contrast, senior managers estimate their staff members spend 39 minutes each day on their cell phones during business hours.

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Workers also admitted to clocking 42 minutes a day on personal tasks. All in all, the average employee could be wasting more than 8 hours per work week on activities unrelated to the job. The survey found employees ages 18 to 34 rack up 70 minutes on mobile devices and 48 minutes on personal tasks each work day, the most of all age groups.

Workers reported social media (39%) and entertainment websites (30%) are most commonly blocked at their companies. Nearly half of respondents (48%) indicated their organization doesn’t restrict access to online content.

While 62% of managers think staff spend the most time on social networks when using their own mobile devices during business hours, workers said they’re most occupied by personal email (30%). Male employees most frequently check non-work email on their cell phones (32%), while females browse social networks more (33%).

More than half of professionals (58%) often use their personal devices at work to visit pages that are banned by their company, a 36-point jump from a 2012 survey. Only 39% of managers think it happens that commonly. Sixty-eight percent of male workers frequently use their cell phones to access blocked websites in the office, compared to 43% of females.

The surveys of workers and senior managers were developed by OfficeTeam. They were conducted by independent research firms and include responses from more than 300 U.S. workers 18 years of age or older and employed in office environments, and more than 300 senior managers at U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.

Compliance July 25, 2017

GASB Proposes Implementation Guide for OPEB Standards

The proposed Implementation Guide provides answers to questions intended to clarify, explain, or elaborate on the requirements of GASB Statement No. 75, and addresses a limited number of issues related to Statement No. 74.
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The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has issued an Exposure Draft of a proposed Implementation Guide that contains questions and answers about the GASB’s new standards for accounting and financial reporting for postemployment benefits other than pensions. Those benefits (primarily retiree health care) are referred to as other postemployment benefits (OPEB).

The Exposure Draft of Implementation Guide No. 201X-Z, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions (and Certain Issues Related to OPEB Plan Reporting), is available on the GASB website. Stakeholders are encouraged to review and provide comments, the deadline for which is September 25, 2017.

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The proposed Implementation Guide provides answers to questions intended to clarify, explain, or elaborate on the requirements of GASB Statement No. 75, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions. The proposal also addresses a limited number of issues related to Statement No. 74, Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefit Plans Other Than Pension Plans.

Statement 74, approved in June 2015, replaces GASB Statement No. 43. It addresses the financial reports of defined benefit OPEB plans that are administered through trusts that meet specified criteria. The statement follows the framework for financial reporting of defined benefit OPEB plans in Statement 43 by requiring a statement of fiduciary net position and a statement of changes in fiduciary net position. The statement requires more extensive note disclosures and required supplementary information (RSI) related to the measurement of the OPEB liabilities for which assets have been accumulated, including information about the annual money-weighted rates of return on plan investments. Statement 74 also sets forth note disclosure requirements for defined contribution OPEB plans.

Statement 75 replaces the requirements of GASB Statement No. 45. It requires governments to report a liability on the face of the financial statements for the OPEB that they provide, as follows:

  • Governments that are responsible only for OPEB liabilities related to their own employees and that provide OPEB through a defined benefit OPEB plan administered through a trust that meets specified criteria will report a net OPEB liability—the difference between the total OPEB liability and assets accumulated in the trust and restricted to making benefit payments.
  • Governments that participate in a cost-sharing OPEB plan that is administered through a trust that meets the specified criteria will report a liability equal to their proportionate share of the collective OPEB liability for all entities participating in the cost-sharing plan.
  • Governments that do not provide OPEB through a trust that meets specified criteria will report the total OPEB liability related to their employees.
The questions and answers contained in GASB Implementation Guides constitute Category B authoritative guidance under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The guidance is applicable to all state and local governments that follow GAAP when preparing their financial statements.

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