Software helps city meet GASB 34 deadline

Slidell, La., has begun using asset accounting software to help it comply with the Government Accounting Standards Board Statement 34 (GASB 34). The software has helped the city’s fixed asset accounting staff calculate depreciation for assets and generate reports for department heads and auditors.

GASB 34, which was issued in 1999, requires state and local governments to establish a dollar value for current and long-term assets, and track depreciation. When it was issued, Slidell was in the practice of tracking depreciation for utility assets, such as water and sewer lines, but it did not track assets purchased with sales tax funds, such as land improvements, vehicles and infrastructure.

Additionally, the city’s previous system allowed its finance staff to calculate depreciation only once. If the depreciation total was not correct the first time, staff could not easily re-calculate it. Typos, incorrect acquisition prices and incorrect assets had to be corrected manually, which was time consuming for the two-person fixed asset accounting staff. With the increased demands to track depreciation values and the cumbersome software, the city, which has approximately 25,000 residents and annual revenues of $30 million, sought help in complying with GASB 34 by the Phase II, June 15, 2003, deadline.

In 2001, the city purchased FAS Gov Asset Accounting software from Herndon, Va.-based Best Software. “[Now we can] run our depreciation, set it back, and then run it again until our information [is] accurate,” says Sharon Barber, fixed asset manager for the city.

Currently, Slidell is required to capitalize all items with a minimum cost of $5,000. As a result, the Finance Department manages four separate funds: utility, airport, general and sales tax. The utility and airport funds have a large number of fixed assets, including taxiway reconstruction, beacon lights, land, buildings, vehicles and machinery. The fixed asset management process for those funds was transferred completely to the new software in 2002.

In addition, any new assets purchased for the other two funds, general and sales tax, were entered into the system this year, which will allow the city to meet the GASB 34 deadline. “Our previous fixed asset management system failed and slowed us down,” Barber says. “[Now], we fully expect to complete our 2003 financial statements quickly and painlessly.”