The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 61, The Financial Reporting Entity Omnibus, an Amendment to GASB Statement No. 14 and No. 34 in 2010 with an effective date of periods beginning after June 15, 2012. As a result, governmental entities with fiscal years ending June 30, 2013 must implement the changes this year.

This Statement modifies certain requirements for inclusion of component units in the financial reporting entity. For organizations that previously were required to be included as component units by meeting the fiscal dependency criterion, a financial benefit or burden relationship also would need to be present between the primary government and that organization for it to be included in the reporting entity as a component unit. Further, for organizations that do not meet the financial accountability criteria for inclusion as component units but that, nevertheless, should be included because the primary government’s management determines that it would be misleading to exclude them, this Statement clarifies the manner in which that determination should be made and the types of relationships that generally should be considered in making the determination.

The full text of Statement 61 can be downloaded at www.gasb.org