GASB Proposal Provides Guidance on Certain Capital Assets
10/02/2023
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has issued an exposure draft, Disclosure and Classification of Certain Capital Assets, which provides guidance on how certain capital assets should be reported. The classes of capital assets that would require separate disclosure are capital assets held for sale, intangible assets, lease assets, and SBITA assets arising from GASB Statement No. 96, Subscription-Based Information Technology Arrangements.
Separate Disclosures
The exposure draft requires the following capital assets to be disclosed separately in the notes to the financial statements:
- Capital assets held for sale, by major class of asset (see below);
- Lease right of use assets arising from GASB Statement No. 87, Leases, by major class of underlying asset;
- SBITA subscription assets; and
- Intangible assets other than lease and SBITA assets, by major class of asset.
Capital Assets Held for Sale
The proposal includes two criteria for determining whether a capital asset should be classified as held for sale:
- The government has decided to sell the asset; and
- It is probable that the sale will be finalized within one year of the financial statement date.
Classification of capital assets as held for sale must be evaluated each reporting period.
This guidance will be effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2025 (i.e., for FY26).
Comments on the exposure draft are due January 5, 2024. NACUBO will comment and encourages public institutions to also comment or share feedback for inclusion in our letter.
