AAPC: Accounting and Auditing Policy Committee

AAPC General Property, Plant, & Equipment Task Force

Project Summary & Final Guidance

FASAB issued the following guidance as a result of the G-PP&E task force and related sub-groups:

Technical Release (TR) 10: Implementation Guidance on Asbestos Cleanup Costs Associated with Facilities and Installed Equipment

TR 10 addresses important implementation questions regarding the consistent application of TB-2006-1 as it relates to asbestos cleanup costs associated with facilities and installed equipment. The guidance provides additional clarification of SFFAS 6 and TB 2006-1 and a framework for identifying assets containing asbestos, assessing the asset to collect information and/or develop key assumptions in applying acceptable methodologies to estimate asbestos cleanup costs for federal facilities and installed equipment.

Technical Release 11: Implementation Guidance on Cleanup Costs Associated with Equipment

TR 11 addresses cleanup costs associated with equipment as it applies to SFFAS 1, 5, 6 and TR 2. The guidance focuses on cleanup of hazardous waste associated with equipment. It focuses on when cleanup costs should be recognized as an environmental liability and when it should be expensed as a cost of routine operation. The guidance will also assist federal entities to provide reasonable estimates of cleanup costs associated with the disposal of equipment assets, when required.

Technical Release 13: Implementation Guide for Estimating the Historical Cost of General Property, Plant, and Equipment

TR 13 addresses the historical cost estimating of G-PP&E. The guidance provides direction on types of estimating methodologies and the documentation to support the valuation estimates of G-PP&E and provides a foundation for preparers to exercise judgment in formulating those estimates.

Technical Release 14: Implementation Guidance on the Accounting for the Disposal of General Property, Plant, and Equipment

TR 14 addresses implementation guidance that further clarifies existing SFFAS 6 requirements for the disposal, retirement, or removal from service of general property, plant, and equipment as well as related cleanup costs. The guidance is intended to differentiate between permanent and other than permanent removal from service of G-PP&E assets. The guidance also delineates events that trigger discontinuation of depreciation and removal of G-PP&E from accounting records.

Technical Release 15: Implementation Guidance for General Property, Plant, and Equipment Cost Accumulation, Assignment and Allocation

TR 15 promotes an understanding of organizational considerations that affect the application of the standards for general property, plant, and equipment (G-PP&E) except for internal use software. The implementation guidance relates to:

  • a) Recognition requirements for programmatic, managerial, administrative, and other elements of program costs incurred during the G-PP&E lifecycle, decisions regarding the granularity of cost information, and acceptable methods for recognizing those costs (i.e., capital costs captured on the Balance Sheet or period expense costs captured on the Statement of Net Costs [SNC]),
  • b) The concept of a cost accumulation and allocation decision framework (i.e., acceptable methods of accumulating, assigning, and reporting cost data), and
  • c) Management’s role in applying the cost accumulation, assignment, and allocation decision framework.

The guidance also provides a decision framework flowchart to assist entity management in applying the principles described throughout the guidance.

Project Objective

In January 2008, the Accounting and Audit Policy Committee (AAPC), established the General Property, Plant, & Equipment (G-PP&E)  Task Force to assist in developing implementation guidance for federal G-PP&E as it relates to SFFAS 6, Accounting for PP&E, SFFAS 23, Eliminating the Category National Defense Property Plant, & Equipment, and other related G-PP&E Guidance developed by the FASAB.

The task force includes federal agency representatives who are experiencing G-PP&E implementation issues and those who have G-PP&E implementation best practices to share with the federal community.

The task force is being chaired by AAPC member Donjette L. Gilmore, Director – Accounting & Finance Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/DCFO — Department of Defense.

The task group has agreed to meet monthly to address a set of G-PP&E issues identified by the members of the group. Meeting information can be found at the link below.