ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS

Attendance

Members Bloom, Payne, Dacey, David, Jordan, Lane, Longo, Pugh, Schaeffer, and Short attended. Mr. Al Muhlbauer, Deputy CFO, National Science Foundation, attended for Mr. Kull.

Minutes

The minutes of the September 12 meeting were approved with two revisions.

AAPC Facts

Chairperson Payne noted that copies of the final version of AAPC Facts were at each Committee member's place and had been mailed to the FASAB mailing list. The objective was to raise awareness of the committee, its purpose and operations.

AGENDA ITEMS

Review of draft guidance on legal representation letters

Mr. Pugh reported on the status. Members reviewed the draft guidance and a progress report on resolving the completeness/internal control issues with Department of Justice. It was noted that timeliness is an issue and the Committee should deal with this issue in a timely manner. Tentative approval was given to a draft bulletin including the final paragraph on completeness assertions by legal counsel. Final action was deferred until after a meeting is held on October 17 with Department of Justice on resolving the completeness issues. Messrs Kull, Dacey, Pugh, and Short will attend on behalf of the AAPC.

Environmental Liabilities

Committee members reviewed draft guidance on environmental liabilities. FASAB staff member Monica Valentine reviewed the comments she had received. Some legal issues were discussed (as suggested by GAO Office of General Counsel attorney Tom Armstrong). Specifically, "probable liability" is not necessarily the same as "legal liability." It was suggested that some of the changes conflicted with the work of the subgroup and warranted careful consideration. Mr. Dacey, after further discussion with Mr. Armstrong, will suggest necessary changes and resubmit the guidance to AAPC for final approval.

Status Report on Inter-Agency and Intra-Agency Confirmations

Mr. Dacey reported that OPM will provide a letter certifying actuarial statements. Timing is the main issue. Members discussed whether the confirmation issue should remain on AAPC agenda and agreed to remove it from the agenda. Mr. Dacey will continue to be involved in these matters and will raise issues to AAPC on an as needed basis.

Status Report on Estimation of Undocumented Property, Plant and Equipment Costs

Mr. David stated that at the last AAPC meeting there was a question of whether this issue should be addressed by the AAPC, since some members believed that there is sufficient guidance in the literature. At the request of the AAPC, Mr. David convened a subcommittee to discuss the issue and determine what action, if any, should be taken by the AAPC.

Mr. David distributed a summary of the subcommittee's conclusions. In summary, the subcommittee urged the AAPC to address the issue, particularly by providing practical guidance to agencies in dealing with valuing PP&E when the underlying cost information is not available. The subcommittee recommended a one or more day forum to discuss the issue, followed by a best practices publication. The AAPC endorsed this recommendation and asked the subcommittee to plan the forum as quickly as possible, then report at the next AAPC meeting.

Agenda Committee Recommendations

The Agenda Committee suggested referring the Credit Reform subgroup's paper (Issue #11) to the FASAB agenda. The consensus of AAPC was that FASAB should consider this issue since it requires amending the standards. Ms. Payne agreed to provide the paper to FASAB for possible addition to its agenda.

Miscellaneous Items

New Group

Chairperson Payne said that the working group on Credit Reform that had been formed under the Government Audited Financial Statements, and is still operating, would like to be sponsored by AAPC. Since AAPC task forces must be chaired by an AAPC member, Ms. Payne asked that Mr. Short chair this task force and that Ms. Shirley Hansberry, FMS, co-chair it. Mr. Short agreed. Mr. David pointed out that the CFO Council also has a Credit Reform Task Force which could also be combined with the AAPC group. Mr. Short agreed to follow up on this.

Electronic posting of AAPC Minutes

Ms. Payne briefly discussed the possibility for the future of E-Mailing the AAPC minutes of meetings to Committee members for their approval and then posting the approved minutes under the AAPC home page on the Internet. AAPC members agreed to this proposal. Mr. Muhlbauer stated that Preston Rich, National Science Foundation, could assist in implementing this electronic posting.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for November 13.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 PM.