Project Update

Not-for-Profit Financial Reporting: Financial Statements

Last updated on May 9, 2013. Please refer to the Current Technical Plan for information about the expected release dates of exposure documents and final standards.


(Updated sections are indicated with an asterisk *)

The staff has prepared this summary of Board decisions for information purposes only. Those Board decisions are tentative and do not change current accounting. Official positions of the FASB are determined only after extensive due process and deliberations.

Project Objective(s)
Decisions Reached at Last Meeting
*Next Steps
*Board/Other Public Meeting Dates
*Background Information
*Contact Information

Project Objective(s)

The objective of this project is to reexamine existing standards for financial statement presentation by not-for-profit entities, focusing on improving:

  1. Net asset classification requirements
     
  2. Information provided in financial statements and notes about liquidity, financial performance, and cash flows. 
An April 2012 podcast outlines the objectives of the two projects.

Decisions Reached at Last Meeting (June 6, 2012)


The staff discussed the tentative project plan with members of the project resource group on May 29, 2012 and with the Board on June 6, 2012. The Board directed the staff to proceed as planned with the project plan.

*Next Steps

At the March 28, 2013 Education Session, the staff provided the Board with additional analysis and feedback from outreach on the alternative operating measure definitions considered by the Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee (NAC) (the February 28 & March 1, 2013 NAC meeting highlights are available here). The discussion was centered on how different “core-mission” approaches to defining the operating measure would affect whether activities, such as other components of other comprehensive income , endowments, and bequests would be captured within such a measure.

The staff plans to consider feedback received at the March 28, 2013 Education Session as well as discuss feedback received from the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) from a liaison meeting held on April 5, 2013 at an upcoming Board meeting. For the project timeline, refer to the technical plan.

At the January 31, 2013 Education Session, Board members expressed an interest in considering a core-mission approach to defining an operating measure. Since then, the staff has been analyzing and conducting outreach to determine the objectives of a measure and how such a core-mission approach would be defined.

 

*Board/Other Public Meeting Dates

The Board meeting minutes are provided for the information and convenience of constituents who want to follow the Board’s deliberations. All of the conclusions reported are tentative and may be changed at future Board meetings. Decisions become final only after a formal written ballot to issue a final standard.

March 28, 2013 Education SessionOperating Measure: Definition (cont.)
January 31, 2013 Education SessionOperating Measure: Background, Objectives, Definition
June 6, 2012 Board MeetingProject Plan 
May 16, 2012 Education Session—Handout 
November 9, 2011 Board Meeting—Agenda Announcement

*Background Information

On November 9, 2011, the FASB chairman announced (press release) the addition of two agenda projects—this standards-setting project and a research project (Not-for-Profit Financial Reporting: Other Financial Communications)—intended to improve financial reporting of not-for-profit entities. The objectives of these projects encompass suggestions received by the Board from its Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee (NAC) at the Committee’s September 2011 meeting. The staff discussed the plans and approach for both projects with the NAC at its March 2012 and September 2012 meetings. The NAC page contains handouts and minutes from those meetings.

*Contact Information

Lee Klumpp
Practice Fellow
lklumpp@fasb.org

Ronald J. Bossio
Senior Project Manager
rjbossio@fasb.org

John Gillard
Postgraduate Technical Assistant
jcgillard@fasb.org