It's important for Not-For-Profit (NFP) organizations to stay current on ever-changing accounting standards that may impact their financial reporting. In August 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-14, Not-for-Profit Entities (Topic 958): Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities.

The update strives to provide more relevant information to those that rely on their financial statements. The ASU is effective for annual financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017.

The new standard affects all nonprofit organizations and includes a number of presentation and disclosure requirements, including the following seven, which we felt were critical for you to know. 

1. Net Asset Classification

The new guidance requires your financial statements to present the amount for each of two classes of net assets on the face of the statement of financial position:

• Net assets with donor restrictions
• Net assets without donor restrictions

The previous categories of temporarily and permanently restricted net assets are no longer presented, but are combined into a single category. To enhance readers’ understanding of the donor restrictions, footnote disclosures will be required to include the timing and nature of the restrictions, as well as the composition of net assets with donor restrictions at the end of the period. The disclosures will continue to show an analysis by time, purpose, and perpetual restrictions.

2. Underwater Endowments

As part of the change to classification of net assets, endowments that have a current fair value that is less than the original gift amount (or amount required to be retained by donor or by law), known as underwater endowments, will now be classified in net assets with donor restrictions, instead of the current classification in unrestricted net assets. Expanded disclosures will be required to include the following information:

• Original amount of the endowment
• NFP’s policy relating to spending from these funds
• Whether that policy was followed

3. Board-designated Net Assets

At times, an NFP’s governing board may make designations or appropriations that result in self-imposed limits on the use of resources without donor restrictions, known as board-designated net assets; enhanced disclosure information will be required on the amounts and purposes of these designations.

In addition, the placed-in-service approach will be required when releasing restrictions related to long-lived assets. The option to imply a time restriction and release the restriction over an asset’s useful life will no longer be permitted.

4. Liquidity

NFPs will be required to disclose both quantitative and qualitative information about the availability of and how your NFP manages its liquid available resource to meet cash needs for general expenditures within one year of the balance sheet date. The goal of this change is to improve the ability of financial statement users to assess the NFP’s available financial resources and the liquidity of those resources.

5. Functional Expenses

To make information about expenses more comparable and useful, all NFPs will be required to provide information about their operating expenses by both nature and function—on the face of the statement of activities, as a separate statement, or in the notes to the financial statements. Those notes must then be supplemented with enhanced disclosures about the methods used to allocate costs among functions.

6. Investment Return 

A net presentation of investment expenses against investment return will be required on the face of the statement of activities. External and direct internal investment expenses will be netted against the investment return. Disclosing the components of investment expense will no longer be required.

7. Statement of Cash Flows

NFPs can continue to present either the direct or indirect method of reporting operating cash flows. However, the presentation or disclosure of the indirect method reconciliation is no longer required if the NFP uses the direct method.

At MRPR, we are ready to assist you. You can contact us for more details.