Some may be mystified by accounting and financial reporting for states and local governments. Yet, for most assets and liabilities, the accounting for state and local governments is similar to that of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Of course, there are major differences as every Citizen has an interest in their government’s operations. Hear about specific assets and liabilities for state and local governments and their differences from other organizations during this 2-hour course.
Publication Date: February 2024
Topics Covered
- Types of Accounts
- Definitions
- Accounting Principles Issued by the GASB
- The Two Measurement Focuses and Bases of Accounting That Have Impact on Recognizing Assets and Liabilities - Examples of Differences
- Specific Assets and Liabilities:
- Cash and Investments
- Receivables
- Capital Assets, intangible assets, and right-to-use assets
- Other Assets
- Deferred Outflows of Resources
- Accounts Payable (and similar)
- Long-Term Debt
- Pension, Postemployment and Other Employee Benefit Liabilities
- Leases (and similar arrangements)
- Risk Management, Claims and Judgments
- Other Liabilities
- Deferred Inflows of Resources
Learning Objectives
- Recognize how to differentiate between state and local government recognition and reporting of assets and liabilities
- Recognize why state and local government accounting and financial reporting is (and should be) different than other entities
- Identify examples of an asset found in state and local government financial statements
- Identify resources with a present service capacity that the entity presently controls
- Describe components of cash and cash equivalents
- Recognize how to differentiate types of investments reported at fair value
- Describe the differences between capital assets, intangible assets, and right-to-use assets
- Describe asset impairments
- Recognize which GASB Statements are directly involved with plan accounting and financial reporting
- Identify a type of business activity as opposed to a type of fiduciary activity
- Identify the four different areas of liabilities that may be on a government's financial statement
- Identify the two elements of risk management
Level
Overview
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Accounting (Governmental) (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
None
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
Eric S. Berman
Eric S. Berman, MSA, CPA, CGMA, has over 30 years of governmental accounting and auditing experience. Until he retires from the firm on April 30, 2025, he serves as a Government Advisory Services Partner with Eide Bailly LLP. Before Eide Bailly LLP, he was a quality control principal with a public accounting firm in California.
Eric is the author of the Governmental Library for preparers for CCH. The Government Library also offers in-depth, interpretive guidance. In addition to the Governmental GAAP Guide, users can access CCH’s Governmental GAAP Practice and Disclosures Manual and the Governmental GAAP Update Service.
Eric’s public-sector experience includes being a Deputy Comptroller for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2010, and the Chief Financial Officer of the Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust from 1994 to 1999. Eric is a licensed CPA in Massachusetts. He obtained an M.S. in Accountancy from Bentley University. Eric currently serves on the Association of Government Accountants (AGA)’s Financial Management Standards Board (FMSB). Eric is also a past National Treasurer of AGA, serving from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. He also recently co-chaired AGA’s leadership development committee and served on the finance and budget committee. Eric previously represented the AGA as the Vice Chairman of the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Council to the GASB. He also chaired the AGA’s Audit Committee and previously, the FMSB. He was also a previous chair of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA’s) Governmental Performance and Accountability Committee and is a former member of the AICPA’s State and Local Government Expert Panel. Eric was a member of the GASB’s task force reexamining the state and local governmental financial reporting model and has served on previous GASB task forces and working groups assisting in developing and implementing standards.
Eric is also a past member of the California Society of CPAs' Governmental Accounting and Auditing Committee and is past chair of the same committee for the Massachusetts Society of CPAs. He was also the founder and treasurer of a not-for-profit performing arts organization in Pennsylvania. Eric is frequently called upon to consult and train state and local governments throughout the country on governmental accounting and auditing. Eric shuttles between Massachusetts and Washington, DC.
Eric is also a past member of the California Society of CPAs’ Governmental Accounting and Auditing Committee and is past chair of the same committee for the Massachusetts Society of CPAs. He was also the founder and treasurer of a not-for-profit performing arts organization in Pennsylvania. Eric is frequently called upon to consult and train state and local governments throughout the country on governmental accounting and auditing.