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FASAB Issues Requirements for Fiscal Sustainability Reporting

“One of FASAB’s federal financial reporting objectives—the stewardship objective—includes enabling readers to determine whether future budgetary resources will likely be sufficient to sustain public services and to meet obligations as they come due…the question of the long-term fiscal sustainability of U.S. government services may be among the most important questions of our time. The Board believes that fully meeting the stewardship objective requires non-traditional approaches to complement and enrich the information from the federal government’s balance sheets and operating statements. The objective of the required reporting is not only to provide information that is useful and necessary in assessing fiscal sustainability but also to effectively communicate the information in a way that is meaningful and understandable to readers. The required reporting will include information about projected trends in the federal budget deficit or surplus and the federal debt and how these amounts relate to the national economy. Most importantly, if an excess of projected spending over projected receipts is indicated by the projections, the required reporting will explain and illustrate the likely impact of delaying action – for example, the progressive increase in the change that would be needed by (1) reducing spending, or (2) increasing receipts.”

  • Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) 36, Reporting Comprehensive Long-Term Fiscal Projections for the U.S. Government
  • Related postings on financial system
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