Gasb Requests for Public Comment

 Evaluate the benefits of providing public comments to exposure drafts.

The governmental Accounting Standards Board has a duty of expanding the standards of the state and local governmental accounting and financial reporting and other accounting and financial reporting communications that will result in useful information for users of financial reports. It is also a way to guide and educate the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of those financial reports.
The Exposure Draft is the accounting profession’s way of letting the public know of changes to the accounting standards which govern financial reporting and gives the public an opportunity to comment upon the draft before it is finalized and issued after the exposure draft has been circulated for several months. The draft is also designed to provide the public with complete information on plan assets, benefit obligations, cash flows, benefit costs and other relevant information.   This is governed by global standards which tell how accountants report company accounts. IAS19, (International Accounting Standards) which governs how defined benefit pension schemes are accounted for, is subject to the same short-term approach as the rest of the corporate world.   It implies that it is necessary to the long-term nature of defined benefit pension schemes.
The concept of public comments to exposure drafts goes far beyond involving all people to state their view but to modify the draft through the eyes of the public and getting the opportunity to edit the draft in the most convenient way. Through the reasons as to why the public would agree or disagree with the exposure draft, the GASB will have an opportunity at the final inclusion to facilitate their analysis of the comment letters with an assessment from the explanations of the public views including alternatives that they believe should be considered. All public comments are distributed to the Board and considered during the Board’s deliberations...