State, Local Governments to Get Accounting Rule Extensions

State and local governments could have an extra year to comply with a spate of new accounting rules, including for leases and debt disclosures, under a proposal the government accounting rulemaker released Wednesday.

The reason: the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board said in the proposal. States, cities, and counties would get the additional time to follow almost all GASB rules and implementation guides that were due to take effect in fiscal 2019 and later.

• “Providing governments with sufficient time to apply the guidance addressed in this Statement would help to safeguard the reliability of their financial statements,” GASB said in the proposal.
• If finalized, the extension would apply to nine new standards, including accounting for fiduciary activities, leases, conduit debt obligations, and major equity interests. The extension also would apply to several implementation guides GASB issues to help state and local governments interpret certain accounting rules.
• Comments are due by April 30.