Inside Higher ED:
A set of changes proposed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, a nonprofit group that sets guidelines for how states, local governments, and entities such as public colleges and universities report finances, is about to unbalance countless balance sheets.
The new guidelines, announced in June and set to take effect in the 2015 fiscal year, are designed to highlight how much state governments — and governmental agencies — owe in pension expenses and force policy makers to confront these costs. The change applies only to defined benefit plans, not contribution plans such as 401(k)s.
