GASB's Robert Attmore discusses new pension rules

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is poised to approve new regulations that will have a major impact on the way states calculate their pension liabilities. The changes are meant to make it easier to compare the health of pension funds from one state to the next. They also would have the side effect of making states’ long-term finances appear in worse shape than their current balance sheets indicate. One set of changes relates to the accounting methods states use to calculate their pension obligations. Under GASB’s current reporting standards, governments can choose from six different accounting methods. The new rules would have states all use the same method. In addition, the orientation of these rules would change significantly. The current system takes a “funding-based” approach that focuses on how much states pay into the pension fund each year. The new system would take an “accounting-based” approach that employs a longer-term view to ensure that the overall costs of providing benefits are accounted for. Other proposed changes relate to how pension funds calculate investment returns. The new rules would flatten the effects of boom-and-bust cycles by smoothing investment gains and losses over a standard five-year period. In addition, governments would no longer be able to use historical rates of return to determine their long-term liabilities if they haven’t set aside enough money to pay retirees. Instead, they’ll have to use a combination of a historical rate of return and a lower rate pegged to the municipal bond market—which will make their long-term liabilities appear larger.   Perhaps the most important change is that all of this information would have to appear in the body of states’ balance sheets. So policy makers, lawmakers, investors and reporters — or anyone who simply wants to know about a state’s fiscal health — would get a clearer view. If GASB approves the new standards, they will be released for public comment in early July and are likely to be implemented within a year or two. GASB was established in 1984 by a group of national, state and local government organizations and the Financial Accounting Foundation as a way to establish uniform accounting and financial reporting standards tailored specifically to state and local governments, now known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Accounting Rate Of Return - News


GASB's Robert Attmore discusses new pension rules

Instead, they'll have to use a combination of a historical rate of return and a lower rate pegged to the municipal bond market—which will make their long-term liabilities appear larger. Perhaps the most important change is that all of this information



Lucas Energy Releases 2011 Fiscal Year End Financial and Operating Results

We target well acquisitions which we estimate to have the following: -- good opportunity and the appropriate acreage to drill additional laterals, -- payback period of less than 12 months, and -- projected internal rate of return on capital invested



Trash pickup rate on the block June 28

Over the long-term, “we're slowly working our way up to 10 percent,” based on a historical average of rate of return, Koppang said. Commissioners will consider approving the methodology at their next regular meeting July 28.



P/C Insurers' Profits Fell in Q1 as Underwriting Losses Grew

Private US property/casualty insurers' net income after taxes dropped to $7.8 billion in first-quarter 2011 from $8.9 billion in first-quarter 2010, with insurers' annualized rate of return on average policyholders' surplus decreasing to 5.6 percent



Pensions challenge city's once and future leaders

For example, based on typical plan demographics and a more reasonable 6 percent rate-of-return assumption, the actual average plan funding percentage would be around 50-55 percent, rather than the 68 percent advertised rate. Those who set accounting




Accounting Rate of Return | Stephenadesantis.com

The accounting rate of return, additionally well known as a lapse upon investment, uses accounting information, as suggested by monetary statements, to magnitude a profitability of an investment. That is a allotment of a normal after taxation distinction widely separated by a normal investment. The normal investment would be next to to half of a strange investment if it were unheeded constantly. Alternatively, it can be found out by dividing a sum of a investments book values after debasement by a hold up of a project. Thus, is an normal rate as well as can be dynamic by a following equation,

Accounting rate of lapse = Average income / Average investment

Acceptance rule

As an accept or reject criterion, this process will accept all those projects whose It is aloft than a smallest rate determined by a government as well as reject those projects which have rate reduction than a smallest rate. This process would arrange a plan as series a single if it has top accounting rate of lapse as well as lowest arrange would be reserved to the plan with lowest accounting rate of return.

Evaluation of Accounting Rate of Return

That process might have a little merits:

• Simplicity. That process is elementary to assimilate as well as use.

• Accounting date. The accounting rate of lapse can be straightforwardly distributed from a accounting data; distinct in a net benefaction worth as well as inner rate of lapse methods, no adjustments have been compulsory to arrive during income flows of a project.

• Accounting profitability. For this process order incorporates a complete tide of income in working out a projects profitability.

It is a process ordinarily accepted by accountants, as well as often used as a opening measure. As a preference criterion, however, it has critical shortcomings.

• Cash flows ignored. It uses accounting profits, not income flows, in supposing a projects. Accounting increase formed upon capricious assumptions as well as choices as well as additionally embody not-cash items.

• Time worth ignored. The averaging of income ignores a time worth of money. In fact, this procession gives some-more weight age to a apart receipts.

• Arbitrary cut off. The organisation contracting which order uses an capricious cut-off yardstick. Generally, a thirty-six-inch ruler is a firms stream lapse upon a resources (book-value). Because of this, a expansion companies gain really tall rates upon their existent resources might reject essential projects with certain net benefaction values as well as a reduction essential companies might accept bad projects with disastrous net benefaction values.


Accounting Rate Of Return - Bookshelf

Schaum's outline of theory and problems of cost accounting

Schaum's outline of theory and problems of cost accounting

10.4 ACCOUNTING RATE OF RETURN The accounting rate of return is computed by dividing net income by the original investment. The project with the highest ...

Cost management, accounting & control

Cost management, accounting & control

Accounting Rate of Return The accounting rate of return (ARR) is the second commonly ... It is computed by the following formula: Accounting rate of return ...

Principles of Accounting

Principles of Accounting

Analyze capital investment proposals using the payback period method and the accounting rate- of-return method. STOP & REVIEW The accounting rate-of-return ...

The accounting rate of return

The accounting rate of return


Accounting for managers, interpreting accounting information for decision-making

Accounting for managers, interpreting accounting information for decision-making

Accounting rate of return The accounting rate of return (ARR) is the profit generated as a percentage of the investment. This is equivalent to the return on ...

Daily Data Directory


Accounting rate of return - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Accounting rate of return, also known as the Average rate of return, or ARR is a ... ARR calculates the return, generated from net income of the proposed capital ...

The Accounting Rate of Return Method for Comparing Capital ...
The accepted accounting rate of return definition is a ratio of ... Many financial analysts prefer the accounting rate of return method over other methods since it provides a ...

Accounting Rate of Return
Accounting rate of return is commonly known as the average rate of ... The purpose of accounting rate of return method is to assess the profitability on the ...

Accounting Rate of Return - ARR: Definition from Answers.com
Method of estimating the rate of return from an investment using a straight-line approach (not discounted or compounded)

Accounting rate of return (ARR)
Accounting rate of return (ARR) The accounting rate of return (ARR) is a very simple (in ... The accounting rate of return is conceptually similar to payback ...