Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Using financial statements to provide evidence on the fiscal sustainability of the states
Elizabeth Plummer, Terry K. Patton,
Article information:
To cite this document:
Elizabeth Plummer, Terry K. Patton, (2015) "Using financial statements to provide evidence on the fiscal sustainability of the
states", Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Vol. 27 Issue: 2, pp.225-264, https://doi.org/10.1108/
JPBAFM-27-02-2015-B004
Permanent link to this document:
https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBAFM-27-02-2015-B004
Downloaded on: 15 December 2017, At: 05:04 (PT)
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
INTRODUCTION
State governments’ spending commitments and long-term
liabilities continue to grow and outpace revenues. These trends have
led to increased concern about states’ fiscal sustainability, which is
most commonly defined as a state government’s long-run ability to
consistently meet its financial responsibilities with available
resources (Rose, 2010; Chapman, 2008). While sustainability is a
long-run concern, much of the academic and media attention focuses
on states’ current-year budgets and whether state revenues will be
--------------------------------
* Elizabeth Plummer, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor, Department of
Accounting, Texas Christian University. Her research and teaching interests
are in taxation and state and local governmental financial reporting. Terry K.
Patton, Ph.D., is the Robert Madera Distinguished Professor of Accounting,
Department of Accounting, Midwestern State University. His research and
teaching interests are in state and local governmental financial reporting.
ability to provide services and pay its obligations over the budgetary
cycle (i.e., the next year or two). It provides little information about the
government’s long-run ability to meet its financial responsibilities. In
addition, most academic and media focus is on a state’s operating
fund budget, even though this generally represents less than 50% of
state spending.
The purpose of this paper is to describe how a state’s
government-wide financial statements can be used, with
adjustments, to provide evidence on the state’s fiscal sustainability.
The end result of our analysis is a measure that we refer to as
adjusted total net assets (AdjTNA), which is calculated as a state’s
assets (not including its capital assets) minus the state’s known
liabilities and obligations. In short, AdjTNA provides a measure of the
effect on a state’s total net assets (less its capital assets) when
unfunded pension and OPEB liabilities are included as liabilities.
On a more conceptual level, AdjTNA provides an estimate of the
extent to which the state’s past and current revenues have been
sufficient to cover its past and current costs, and can therefore help
financial statement users better understand the extent to which
interperiod equity has been achieved. In Concepts Statement No. 4,
Elements of Financial Statements, the GASB describes interperiod
equity as being achieved when “the burden of the cost of [current
period] services is borne by present-year taxpayers and revenue
providers” rather than “shifted to future-year taxpayers or revenue
providers through an increase in the level of borrowing” or paid from
net resources accumulated in past periods (GASB 2007 and 2009).
A negative AdjTNA value suggests that a state has deferred payment
of past costs to future time periods. Although some of the past costs
will necessarily benefit future periods (e.g., roads, education), these
costs must ultimately be paid. If the costs deferred to future periods
USING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE ON THE FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY 227
are significant, then states will likely have to finance these costs by
increasing future taxes or reducing future government services,
thereby affecting future taxpayers. If these costs are greater than the
amount by which government officials are willing to increase tax
revenues (because of political consequences), or greater than what
taxpayers are able to pay, then the government’s level of goods and
services given its available resources is not sustainable.1
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
cover past costs, and that the payment of these costs have been
deferred to future periods. It also suggests that the government’s
level of goods and services is not sustainable given its current
revenues, and that paying off the state’s accumulated obligations will
likely require the state governments to increase taxes or decrease
services.
To provide perspective on the size of a state’s AdjTNA deficit
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
sharing plans are pension plans that pool the pension obligations for
all government employers that participate in the plan. Any
accumulated pension plan assets can be used to pay benefits to the
retirees of any government employer. With the implementation of
GASB Statement No. 68, governments that participate in cost-sharing
plans will be required to recognize their proportionate share of the
collective net pension liability in their financial statements. Prior to
the implementation of GASB Statement No. 68, such governments
did not report this amount, nor was it disclosed in the notes to their
financial statements or required supplementary information.
Reporting a net pension liability will be a particularly important issue
for local governments as they are the predominant participants in
cost-sharing plans.
Two of the changes introduced by Statement No. 68 are
especially pertinent to our study of state governments. First, the new
standards will require governments to report a net pension liability on
their Statement of Net Assets that is equal to the difference between
the total accrued pension liability and the fair value of pension plan
net assets that have been set aside to pay the pension liability.
Currently, governments only report a liability if the pension
contributions they are actuarially required to make exceed the
amount they have actually contributed.3 Our study quantifies the
states’ pension liabilities in a manner more like the new requirements
and adds these amounts to the liabilities reported in the state’s
Statement of Net Assets. Second, GASB’s new standards may require
governments to use a lower discount rate for underfunded pension
plans. Using a lower discount rate will result in larger liabilities
reported on the government’s financial statements. In addition to our
primary analysis, our study also uses a sensitivity analysis that
incorporates evidence from the economics literature to measure what
the pension liabilities would be using a lower discount rate. Overall,
230 PLUMMER & PATTON
EXHIBIT 1
State of California Statement of Net Assets for FYE June 30, 2008
(Amounts in Millions)
Primary Government
Governmental Business- Total
Activities Type
Activities
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
ASSETS
Current Assets 43,837 11,273 55,110
Noncurrent assets:
Capital assets (net of
accumulated 95,360 6,841 102,201
depreciation)
Other noncurrent 4,539 20,934 25,473
assets
Total assets 143,736 39,048 182,784
LIABILITIES
Current liabilities 37,204 3,494 40,698
Noncurrent liabilities 81,475 25,642 107,117
Total liabilities 118,679 29,136 147,815
NET ASSETS
Invested in capital
assets, net of related 84,255 50 84,305
debt
Restricted 10,149 6,853 17,002
Unrestricted (69,347) 3,009 (66,338)
Total net assets 25,057 9,912 34,969
Total net liabilities and
net assets 143,736 39,048 182,784
EXHIBIT 2
State of California, Pension and OPEB Information as of June 30,
2008 (Dollar Amounts in Millions)
Panel A: Pension Benefits
Actuarial Actuarial
Unfunded
value of accrued
actuarial
assets liability
accrued Funded
(AAL)
liability Ratio
(UAAL)
Pension: (a) (b) (a) – (b) a/b
Public Employees’ $122,153 $140,508 $(18,355) 86.9%
Retirement Fund
Judges’ Retirement Fund 19 3,607 (3,588) 0.5
Judges’ Retirement Fund II 335 367 (32) 91.3
Legislators’ Retirement Fund 142 103 39 137.9
State Teachers’ Retirement
Defined Benefit Program 155,215 177,734 (22,519) 87.3
Total Pension $ 277,864 $322,319 $(44,455)
Panel B: Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB)
OPEB (a) (b) (a) – (b) a/b
State of California -0- $ $ 0.0%
48,220 (48,220)
Trial Courts -0- 1,291 (1,291) 0.0%
University of California
Retiree Health Plan 51 13,800 (13,749) 0.4%
Total OPEB $ 51 $ 63,311 $ (63,260)
Source: Information for this exhibit is obtained from the State of California’s
2009 CAFR, Schedule of Funding Progress (pp. 154-156), and the
Public Employees’ Retirement Fund 2009 CAFR (p. 64).
USING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE ON THE FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY 237
as a liability because the state has not made all its required annual
contributions in previous years. The remaining $42.4 billion of the
total UAAL amount is not included anywhere on the face of the state’s
financial statements. If it was recorded on the Statement of Net
Assets (Exhibit 1), the state’s total liabilities would increase from
$147.8 billion to $190.2 billion, or almost 30%.
the required funding contribution that the state did not make in prior
years. Including the remaining $61 billion would increase total
liabilities from $147.8 billion to $208.8 billion—about 41%.
EXHIBIT 3
State of California, Computation of Adjusted Total Net Assets (AdjTNA)
for FYE 2008
(Dollar Amounts in Millions)
Statement of Net Assets1 Off-sheet
Computation of Adjusted Total Net
liabilities2 Assets
Adjusted Adjusted
Total Total Total Pension OPEB Total Total Adjusted
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
in the Statement of Net Assets liabilities for FYE 2008. See discussion in
Section 2 of the paper.
3 Adjusted Total Assets is equal to Total Assets from column (1), minus
$102,201 million of net capital assets reported on the Statement of Net Assets.
assets, and services, and that the payment of these costs has been
deferred to future periods. This measure, however, must be
considered within the context of governments. Unlike businesses,
governments have the power to tax. This taxing ability is not reported
as an asset in a government’s financial statements, although it is a
likely source of funding for California’s deficit value. However, if the
AdjTNA deficit value is greater than the amount by which government
officials are willing to increase tax revenues (because of political
consequences), or greater than taxpayers’ ability to pay, then the
state will have to pursue other options—primarily reducing future
government services or reducing costs by increasing efficiencies.
California’s AdjTNA measure therefore provides information about the
state’s ability to sustain its current fiscal structure, given its current
financial resources.
USING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE ON THE FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY 241
state and its local governments. For the other 30 states, however,
the state CAFR’s were not sufficient for determining the UAAL
amounts. For these states, we obtained the UAAL amounts from
financial statements and reports issued by the applicable pension
and OPEB plans. This required referring to between one to seven
different pension and OPEB plan statements, depending on the state.
In addition, for nine of the 30 states, the pension and/or OPEB
statements did not provide sufficient information for determining the
division of liabilities between the state and its local governments, so
we contacted state personnel who helped determine the appropriate
division.10
The first three columns of Table 1 report total assets, total
liabilities, and total net assets as reported on each state’s Statement
of Net Assets. The median value of assets and liabilities reported on
the government-wide statements are $28.1 billion and $7.8 billion,
respectively, and the median total net asset value is $14.7 billion.
There is wide variation across the states, with Texas having by far the
largest total net asset value ($142.8 billion). Florida and Alaska rank
second and third, with total net asset values of $59.1 billion and
$57.6 billion, respectively. Four states have a negative total net asset
value: Illinois (-$19.9 billion), New Jersey (-$12.7 billion),
Massachusetts (-$4.6 billion), and Connecticut (-$2.2 billion). These
deficit values suggest that the fiscal sustainability of these states is
relatively weak, even before considering the off-balance sheet
pension and OPEB liabilities.
The next two columns of Table 1 provide the UAAL amounts for
each state’s pension and OPEB plans that are not included in total
liabilities in column 2. Appendix A provides a detailed discussion of
how we arrive at these numbers.11 Table 1 shows that the median
unrecorded (actuarial) liability is $4.1 billion for pension benefits and
$2.7 billion for OPEB benefits. California has the largest unrecorded
pension liability ($42.4 billion) and the largest unrecorded OPEB
242 PLUMMER & PATTON
TABLE 1
Computation of Adjusted Total Net Assets (AdjTNA) for all 50 states
FYE 2008 (amounts in millions)
Adjus- Adjusted Adjusted
Total Total Total Pension OPEB ted Total Total
Assets Liabili- Net (UAAL (UAAL Total Liabili- Net
ties Assets not not Assets ties Assets
recor- recor- (exclu- (2)+(4)+ (6)-(7)
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
TABLE 1 (Continued)
Adjusted Adjusted Adjusted
Total Total Total Pension OPEB Total Total Total
Assets Liabili- Net (UAAL (UAAL Assets Liabili- Net
ties Assets not not (exclu- ties Assets
recor- recor- des net (2)+(4)+ (6)-(7)
ded) ded) capital (5)
assets)
States (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
TABLE 2
Descriptive Statistics for all 50 states, FYE 2008 (Dollar Amounts in
Millions)
Mean Median St. Dev. Max Min
Total assets $37,395 $28,081 $41,305 $ 210,801 $2,613
Total liabilities 19,261 7,806 26,767 147,815 1,002
Total net assets 18,135 14,723 23,144 142,824 (19,886)
Unrecorded UAAL:
Pension 6,860 4,130 9,124 42,392 (10,918)
OPEB 10,187 2,650 15,083 60,963 0
Adjusted total assets (ex-
cludes net capital assets) 18,104 11,632 22,280 125,433 1,210
Adjusted total liabilities 36,308 17,531 46,061 251,170 1,120
Adjusted total net assets (18,204) (6,672) 34,581 37,247 (170,587)
Discount rates:
Pension plans 7.97 8.00 0.34 8.50 7.00
OPEB plans 5.14 4.50 1.51 8.50 3.00
USING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE ON THE FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY 245
TABLE 3
States Ranked by Adjusted Total Net Assets (AdjTNA) per Household
(Amounts In Dollars)
Connecticut (36,366) New Tennessee 498
New Jersey (30,847) Hampshire (6,237) Utah 1,022
Hawaii (25,543) Vermont (6,191) New Mexico 1,320
Massachusetts (22,701) Kansas (6,088) Montana 2,954
Illinois (19,381) Michigan (5,762) Nebraska 3,314
Delaware (16,813) Ohio (4,696) Idaho 3,812
Kentucky (16,010) Virginia (4,190) South Dakota 3,839
Rhode Island (15,936) Wisconsin (3,948) North Dakota 9,951
West Virginia (12,747) Pennsylvania (3,494) Wyoming 38,623
California (11,967) Oklahoma (2,813) Alaska 129,990
South Carolina (11,655) Arizona (2,264)
Maryland (11,373) Missouri (2,033) Mean (3,379)
Louisiana (11,311) Arkansas (1,717) Median (5,229)
Alabama (11,167) Colorado (1,500) # negative 40
New York (10,076) Minnesota (1,000)
Maine (9,569) Indiana (672)
North Carolina (7,939) Florida (500)
Georgia (7,849) Oregon (381)
Nevada (7,460) Texas (298)
Mississippi (6,974) Iowa (154)
Washington (6,649)
246 PLUMMER & PATTON
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
Critics argue that the UAAL measure significantly understates a
government’s unfunded pension obligations and attribute this
understatement to two reasons (Novy-Marx and Rauh, 2009, 2011a,
2011b). The first reason is that pension liabilities are discounted
using a rate that is too high. Governmental accounting rules require
that pension liabilities be discounted using the expected long-term
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
rate of return on plan assets, and most state pension plans use a
rate of about 8% (Public Fund Survey, 2011). Conventional finance
theory, however, suggests that pension liabilities should be
discounted at a rate that reflects their risk, which is the level of
certainty that a state will make these payments. Given that state
pension benefits are protected by constitutional and legal provisions
and are likely to be paid (Brown & Wilcox, 2009), critics argue that
the appropriate discount rate should approximate a risk-free rate.15
The second reason put forth for the understatement of pension
obligations is that governmental accounting rules require that a
plan’s assets be measured using their actuarial value rather than
market value. Actuarial value is based on an average of the past
three to five years of market values. Critics argue that actuarial
values are irrelevant for measuring a plan’s funding status, and that
current market value should be used to measure a plan’s ability to
pay benefits (Wozniak & Austin, 2008; Biggs, 2011). This would be
consistent with corporate accounting rules, which require U.S.
corporations to use a plan’s current market value to report the
unfunded pension liability (ASC 715).16 In periods of extended market
gains, market values will usually be greater than actuarial values, and
the UAAL will cause the plan’s funding status to appear worse than it
is. However, in periods of extended market decline—as experienced
more recently, market values will usually be less than actuarial
values, and the UAAL will cause the plan’s funding status to appear
better than it is.
To examine how sensitive our measure is to these criticisms, we
repeat our analysis using data from Novy-Marx and Rauh (2011a)
[hereafter NMR] to estimate the unfunded pension and OPEB
liabilities for each state. NMR provide estimates of the unfunded
pension liability as of June 2009 for each state using a zero-coupon
Treasury yield to discount pension liabilities and using current market
value of pension plan assets.17 When we use the NMR liability
USING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE ON THE FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY 247
largest at -$395.2 billion. Texas and Florida have the largest increase
in their deficits, in dollar terms, compared with the deficit values in
Table 1. The NMR adjustments increase Texas’ deficit value from
-$2.8 billion to -$150.4 billion, and increase Florida’s deficit value
from -$3.9 billion to -$95.5 billion. On a per household basis, the
mean and median deficit AdjTNA values are $16,835 and $16,238.
Thirty-seven states have a deficit value that exceeds $10,000 per
household, and 22 states have a deficit value that exceeds $20,000.
Connecticut, New Jersey, and Illinois have deficit values that exceed
$40,000 per household. The authors can provide this analysis upon
request.
a state’s ability to sustain its current fiscal structure, given its current
financial resources. Our AdjTNA results provide a significantly
different picture of states’ fiscal sustainability. While only four states
have negative TNA values for FYE 2008, 40 states have a negative
AdjTNA. One way of funding these deficit values is through state tax
revenues. However, if a state’s ability to increase tax revenues is
constrained because of political or economic reasons, then
governments will likely have to decrease future government services.
States may also choose to issue new debt to fund these prior costs,
assuming states have additional debt capacity. However, a significant
portion of these prior costs is due to pension and OPEB obligations.
Our evidence suggests that pension and OPEB obligations represent
almost half of a state’s total liabilities (Table 1). This means that a
state would be issuing debt to finance the expenses of its retired
employees, which has different economic consequences than issuing
debt to finance construction of assets that may yield future benefits.
Our study can also help inform discussions on the GASB’s
“Economic Condition Reporting” project, especially with respect to the
project’s third phase which focuses on a government’s fiscal
sustainability. GASB is still developing a definition of “fiscal
sustainability,” but project documents state that this term commonly
includes the government’s ability to continue services and existing
programs; to meet financial commitments now and in the future; to
maintain the stability and predictability of future tax burdens, which
supports informed long-term decision making; to rely on a
government’s future revenue sources; and to maintain reasonable
debt levels (GASB, 2014).20 Our study suggests that certain
adjustments to a state’s financial statements are required to provide
a more complete assessment of a government’s fiscal sustainability
and economic condition. We outline these adjustments, discuss their
rationale, and provide a template for computing and applying them.
250 PLUMMER & PATTON
NOTES
1. The GASB notes that whether interperiod equity is (or is not)
achieved is a policy decision of the government. For example,
many would argue that it is appropriate for governments to
finance capital assets by issuing long-term debt. The GASB’s
concern is that financial statement users understand the
implications of a government’s fiscal decisions for future periods,
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
that we estimate the total unfunded pension and OPEB liability for
state-sponsored plans to be $1.07 trillion. This compares with the
Pew Center’s (2010) estimate of $1.01 trillion for unfunded state
and local government pension and OPEB liabilities for this same
time period.
12. For 34 states, capital assets represent more than half of total
asset value as measured on the Statement of Net Assets, and for
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
(Calif. PERS 2009 CAFR, p. 16). Also see the 2009 CAFR for the
Colorado PERA (pp. 37-39) and the 2010 CAFR for the Calif. STRS
(p. 29).
17. The UAAL amounts for OPEB liabilities are not as affected by the
two criticisms leveled at pension liabilities (Clark, 2009). Most
OPEB plans are unfunded, and for these plans, the accounting
rules state the discount rate should be the yield on assets used to
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor (Don Deis) for
their comments and suggestions. We have benefitted from comments
and discussions with Ray Pfeiffer, Mary Stanford, Bob Vigeland, and
Bill Wempe. We have also benefited from discussions with the
following individuals and appreciate their help in clarifying their
state’s pension and OPEB plans: Teresa Kesey (Chief Financial
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
REFERENCES
Baber, W.R. & Gore, A.K. (2008). “Consequences of GAAP Disclosure
Regulation: Evidences from Municipal Debt Issues.” The
Accounting Review, 83(3): 565-591.
Biggs, A.G. (2011, Fall). “An Options Pricing Method for Calculating
the Market Price of Public Sector Pension Liabilities.” Public
Budgeting & Finance, 31(3): 94-118.
Bradbury, K. (2010, February 17). “State Government Budgets and
the Recovery Act.” Public Policy Briefs, Federal Reserve Bank of
Boston. Boston, MA: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Brown, J.R. & Wilcox, D.W. (2009). Discounting State and Local
Pension Liabilities. American Economic Review: Papers and
Proceedings, 99(2): 538-542.
256 PLUMMER & PATTON
cs/ContentServer?c=GASBContent_C&pagename=GASB%2FGAS
BContent_C%2FUsersArticlePage&cid=1176156731381.
GASB (1994). Statement No. 25: Financial Reporting for Defined
Benefit Pension Plans and Note Disclosures for Defined
Contribution Plans. Norwalk, CT: Author.
GASB (1994). Statement No. 27: Accounting for Pensions by State
and Local Governmental Employers. Norwalk, CT: Author.
GASB (1999). Statement No. 34: Basic Financial Statements—and
Management’s Discussion and Analysis—for State and Local
Governments. Norwalk, CT: Author.
GASB (2004). Statement No. 45: Accounting and Financial Reporting
by Employers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions.
Norwalk, CT: Author.
GASB (2007). Concepts Statement No. 4: Elements of Financial
Statements. Norwalk, CT: Author.
GASB (2012a). Statement No. 67: Financial Reporting for Pension
Plans—An Amendment of GASB Statement No. 25. Norwalk, CT:
Author.
GASB (2012b). Statement No. 68: Accounting and Financial
Reporting for Pensions—An Amendment of GASB Statement No.
27. Norwalk, CT: Author.
Hou, Y. & Smith, D.L. (2006, Fall). “A Framework for Understanding
State Balanced Budget Requirement Systems: Reexamining
Distinctive Features and an Operational Definition.” Public
Budgeting and Finance, 26(3): 22-45.
Internal Revenue Service (2011). County Income Data, Tax Year
2008. [Online]. Available at http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/
0,,id=217542,00.html.
258 PLUMMER & PATTON
Sheffrin, S.M. (2004, Spring). “State Budget Deficit Dynamics and the
California Debacle.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(2):
205-226.
Sisney, J. (2011). The 2011-2012 Budget: The Administration’s
Revenue Accrual Approach. Sacramento, CA: California’s
Legislative Analyst’s Office. [Online]. Available at www.lao.ca.gov/
analysis/2011/revenues/revenue_accrual_013111.aspx.
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
APPENDIX A
Description of UAAL Data Collection and Apportionment between
State and Local Governments
The amounts in Appendix A represent unfunded actuarial accrued
liabilities (UAAL) for state-sponsored pension and OPEB plans. These
amounts are obtained from a state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report (CAFR) for FYE 2008, as well as the CAFR’s for the individual
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
pension and OPEB plans. In some cases, the pension and OPEB
valuations for FYE 2008 were reported in the 2009 CAFR, so the
information was collected from the 2009 CAFR. All CAFR’s were obtained
from publicly-accessible websites.
We apportioned the UAAL amounts to the government which is legally
responsible for funding the pension or OPEB plan. If both the state and
local governments had a responsibility to fund the plan, we apportioned
the UAAL amount based on the relative funding responsibility. All CAFR’s
were read to see if the funding responsibility was apparent from the plan’s
description. If this was not apparent from the plan’s description, we
contacted the director of the pension or OPEB plan. These contacts were
made via email and/or phone. For these plans, the division between
state and local governments was based on our discussions with plan
directors.
The amounts in the first two columns of Appendix A represent the total
UAAL amounts which are the state’s responsibility. However, for purposes
of Table 1 (columns 4 and 5), we are only interested in a state’s
unrecorded UAAL amount (i.e., the UAAL amount which is not already
included as a liability in the state’s Statement of Net Assets). Therefore,
the Table 1 UAAL amounts are equal to the Appendix A UAAL amounts,
minus the UAAL amount which is already recorded as a liability. We
determine the UAAL amount which is included in a state’s liabilities by
examining the information on a state’s long-term obligations, found in the
state CAFR’s “Notes to the Financial Statements.”
Note: All data was collected by the authors, and all contacts with plan
directors were made by the authors.
USING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE ON THE FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY 263
APPENDIX A
Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liability (UAAL) Amounts for FYE 2008 (in
Millions)
State State State Local Local State &
State Pension OPEB Total Pension OPEB Local
Total
Alabama 9,229 15,599 24,828 0 0 24,828
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)
APPENDIX A (Continued)
State State State Local Local State &
State Pension OPEB Total Pension OPEB Local
Total
Oklahoma 9,260 697 9,958 3,912 0 13,870
Oregon 3,160 753 3,914 7,578 0 11,492
Pennsylvania 8,763 18,071 26,834 4,962 519 32,314
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 05:04 15 December 2017 (PT)