In March of 2009, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 54, significantly changing the requirements for reporting governmental funds balances beginning in fiscal year ending June 30, 2011. The new statement clarifies the definitions of individual governmental funds and changes some of the activities reported in certain special revenue funds.

Periodically we receive inquiries regarding how long you should keep old records. In general, record retention periods are the same for electronic records and their hard copy counterparts.

Have you ever looked through your employee handbook as if you were an employee who might use it against you and your business? This type of auditing can help you avoid innocent statements that can turn into costly lawsuits.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board recently issued Statement No.54, which will significantly change reporting requirements for governmental fund balances. The new statement clarifies the definitions of individual funds and may change the activities reported in a government’s special revenue funds.

About half of the $770 billion of the economic stimulus funds will be received by governmental bodies and not-for-profit organizations as grant funds, requiring these entities to have single audits performed on the Federal programs

The topic of how much retained earnings is appropriate keeps surfacing as well. One of the concerns that comes up is how the proceeds of a sale of the company would be distributed if the company were to sell. And, with the retained earnings being significant relative to the equity in the names of the members, the concern turns to how vulnerable the cooperative is to an offer that could be perceived as attractive to the members but would end up being a discounted sale of the coop– one heck of a bargain for a buyer.