Adapting GASB 34 for Water Utility Rate‐Making

COVERED IN AWWA MANUAL M1. When change. cial its Statement the officers, Government For accountants, and No. other 34 Accounting in financial certified June 1999, Standards public professionals, it accountants, intended Board the (GASB) to new chief implement guideissued finanits Statement No. 34 in June 1999, it intended to implement change. For accountants, certified public accountants, chief financial officers, and other financial professionals, the new guidelines brought about fundamental changes in the way that municipal governments prepare and present their annual financial reports. These changes, of course, were intentional, and the GASB must have expected, if not fully anticipated, many of the questions related to the implementation of the new standard. At present, the complete effects of GASB 34 are still unknown. In addition, it is likely that many unintended effects arising from the new standards have yet to be discovered. It is doubtful, for instance, that the GASB could have anticipated the questions that municipal water utility managers would have regarding the new standards. With the implementation of GASB 34 behind them, many water utility managers are now won-