GASB 45 - Chapter 8: The final report - What to do with it
The fruit of everyone's labors is now ready for distribution. About all you need to do here is tell the actuarial firm how many copies you need, bound or unbound, and to whom the package should be addressed.
Distributing copies to the end users
Assuming that all the changes and/or corrections requested in the "draft report" phase have been satisfied, you're now ready to distribute the report to its end users. These are many and varied depending on the type of employer - Counties, for example, typically need to present certain exhibits to the State. School districts in California present reports to the County Office of Education.
Naturally your accounting department will be a primary user of the report. The financial results in the report will be needed for budgeting and preparation of the financial statement disclosures. Especially with the advent of a new accounting standard (GASB 45) the people in accounting may have some questions for the actuary about how to use the numbers contained in the report, and it may be easiest to have them contact the actuary directly - letting numbers people talk to numbers people, where possible, generally saves a huge amount of irritation on the part of the non-numbers people.
The Board Presentation: A final frontier
Then, there's the presentation to your Board or other supervisory body. If the report contains controversial results (for example, a huge liability that needs to be funded for and/or booked over the next several years), it's possible that sparks will fly when the report is presented to the Board. It's best to get a feel for this and then make a decision as to whether you want to face the music yourself or have the actuary/consultant there to assist you. You might want to try explaining the results of the report to a peer as a practice run before you go before the Board. If you find there are parts you don't feel comfortable explaining yourself, best to play it safe and ask the actuary to be present at the Board meeting.
Happy Trails to you ... until we meet again!
The Board presentation can be the easiest facet of the project, the hardest, or anywhere in between, but once you get past it, you're home-free until .... your next GASB 45 actuarial valuation!! If you have any questions, please feel free to Contact Us.
