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AGA Today
FASAB
Establishes Fiscal Sustainability Task Force
Mr. Tom L. Allen, chairman of the Federal Accounting
Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), announced the formation of a new
task to develop recommendations for reporting on the fiscal
sustainability of the federal governments policies. One of FASAB's
federal financial reporting objectives-the stewardship
objective-includes enabling readers to determine whether future
budgetary resources will likely be sufficient to sustain public
services and to meet obligations as they come due.
Mr. Allen noted that meeting the stewardship objective will require
non-traditional approaches that complement and enrich information
from balance sheets and operating statements. I expect that
reporting on fiscal sustainability will include information about
the national economy, the size of the federal budget, and fiscal
trends of current policy. The task force members have been selected
carefully to ensure we have input from those experienced with
economic projections, development of key indicators, and federal
budgeting. The task force will provide essential input to the Board
and I am grateful that so many talented individuals are volunteering
their time.
Task Force Members
The task force members are:
- Joseph Antos, Wilson
H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy, American
Enterprise Institute
- James Duggan, Senior
Economic Advisor for Social Security, Office of Economic Policy,
U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Richard Foster,
Chief Actuary, Center for Medicare and Medicaid
- Jagadeesh Gokhale,
Senior Fellow, Cato Institute
- Stephen Goss, Chief
Actuary, Social Security Administration
- Patrick Locke,
Chief, Budget Analysis Branch, Office of Management and Budget
- Thomas McCool,
Director, Center for Economics, Government Accountability Office
- Benjamin R. Page,
Principal Analyst, Macroeconomic Analysis Division, Congressional
Budget Office
- Allen Schick,
Visiting Fellow in Governance Studies, Brookings Institution
- Eugene Steuerle,
Co-director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center; Senior Fellow, Urban
Institute
Next Steps
The task force will meet in early April and recommendations are
anticipated before the end of 2007. In addition to the technical
experts currently serving on the task force, the Board plans to
expand the task force later this year to include advisors on
communications. The additional task force members, representing
Congress, academia, and the media, will be asked to advise the Board
on how to make financial statement reporting on fiscal
sustainability understandable and meaningful to readers. Ideally,
the final recommendation will include both recommended content and
options for ensuring that the information is communicated
effectively.
Social Insurance: Call for Public Comment and Public Hearing
The fiscal sustainability effort follows closely behind a current
FASAB project to address Accounting for Social Insurance. In October
2006, the Board released a Preliminary Views document presenting two
perspectives! ties regarding appropriate liability recognition for
obligations arising in social insurance programs, which are key
programs such as Social Security and Medicare. In addition, the
Preliminary Views document includes an alternative view proposing to
require a Statement of Fiscal Sustainability for the governments
consolidated financial report that would provide projections for the
entire Government, including information necessary to assess the
sustainability of social insurance programs and information on
intergenerational equity. The Preliminary Views document in PDF
format and the specific questions raised in Word format are
available at the FASAB website (http://www.fasab.gov/exposure.html).
In addition, the Board plans to hold a public hearing on the
Preliminary Views document a! t the May 23, 2007 FASAB meeting.
Comments are welcome on all aspects of the Preliminary Views
document.
ABOUT FASAB
Accounting and financial reporting standards are essential for
public accountability and for an efficient and effective functioning
of our democratic system of government. Thus, federal accounting
standards and financial reporting play a major role in fulfilling
the government's duty to be publicly accountable and can be used to
assess (1) the governments accountability and its efficiency and
effectiveness, and (2) the economic, political, and social
consequences of the allocation and various uses of federal
resources. The FASAB issues federal accounting standards after
following a due process consistent with the Memorandum of
Understanding under which it operates. Due process includes
consideration of the financial and budgetary information needs of
citizens, congressional oversight groups, executive agencies, and
the needs of other users of federal financial information.
For more information on FASAB, please visit our website:
www.fasab.gov.
For more information on the task force contact:
Eileen Parlow
(202) 512-7356
ParlowE@fasab.gov
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