New Accounting Procedures
Implementation of GASB Statement 34/35
We’ve been instructed through our State funders that the federal government is requiring entities that receive federal funds to start following the guidelines specified by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) for State and Local governments. We have discovered that Fayette County administrative offices are implementing GASB and we will begin reporting to the County, following the GASB procedures, at the end of this fiscal year (June 2004).
In order to comply with GASB, we must begin to implement some new procedures. Basically, we need to determine the value of our library assets and this will entail developing a variety of inventories of our purchases and holdings. We will also need to develop depreciation schedules for assets that are valued over $5,000.00. Depreciation is the accounting process of recognizing the fluctuating cost of an asset over time. (You don’t need to worry about this…..Genny will!). The following outlines some of the work to be completed before June 2004 and some items that must be completed on an ongoing basis:
Ø Determine the value of our book/materials collections. Develop depreciation schedule. Determining the initial value of our collection will be a one-shot deal.
Responsible Party – Genny
Ø Conduct inventory and determine value of fixed assets (e.g., land and buildings we own, parking lots, signage, etc.). Develop depreciation schedule as necessary.
Responsible Parties – Genny, with help from Judy
Ø Conduct inventory and determine value of assets other than collection (e.g., furnishings, shelving, equipment, etc.) Develop depreciation schedule as necessary.
Responsible Parties – Genny, with help from local librarians and Kay
Ø Keep records of all new books added to the collection beginning September ___, 2003. Records must include: type of book purchased (e.g., adult fiction, juvenile nonfiction, etc. Just book type is necessary, not specific titles); retail cost of the book; our cost for the book; and copyright date
Responsible Parties – Linda Atwell, with help from Kay in developing reporting form.
Ø Keep records of all donated books/materials that are added to the library collection. You must determine a fair market value for the book, taking into consideration the books’ condition. Once again, the book titles are not necessary, just the book type. Donated books you turn around and sell, or that you just immediately trash can be ignored as far as reporting in this system.
Responsible Parties – Local Librarians, Linda Atwell. Kay will be developing a computerized reporting form that you will use. At this time, our thoughts are that you will provide Judy a hard copy of your report on a monthly basis.
Ø Keep records of all discarded books/materials that are weeded from the catalog. You must record the type of book, the copyright date, and the retail cost of the book. These books/materials must have a value assigned to them. We learned that the value of a book is $0.00 after five years from the copyright date, so books with a pre-1999 copyright date would have a monetary value of $0.00.
Responsible Parties – Local Librarians, Linda Atwell. Kay will be developing a computerized reporting form that you will use. A hard copy of this report will be provided to Judy on a monthly basis.
Updating and adding to our inventory and library collection will be an ongoing process. This is information we will be reporting to the County on a yearly basis. The forms you will be completing will help us to gather the statistics necessary to continually re-evaluate our assets.
Most of the purchases we make of furniture, equipment, etc. are conducted through the administrative headquarters, so we anticipate being able to keep accurate records for these purchases. If items such as furniture or equipment are donated to an individual branch, you must keep us informed so that we can maintain an accurate inventory, including value.
This sounds like an incredible amount of work (and will, undoubtedly, be such at first…), but it is something that we have to do so we must make the best of it. We are trying, on this end, to develop some tools to make all of these new reporting requirements easier. Please bear in mind that this is a work in progress and may require future modifications as we continue to learn what is expected of us. Thanks, in advance, for everyone’s cooperation and patience…..