Last site update: May 5, 2008
WELCOME
Welcome to Ontario's improved and expanded PSAB/Asset Management Website. Beginning with fiscal year 2009, municipalities must report on their tangible capital assets and move from modified to full accrual accounting. The Municipal Finance Officers' Association (MFOA) and the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO) have forged a strategic partnership to assist municipal staff implementing the changes. The website serves as an information clearing house.
What's New?
- Two New Newsletters Released (May 5, 2008): Our latest newsletters answer two key questions in the mind of every municipal finance practitioner. How do you account for assets transferred to or from other governmental entitities? And what exactly do I have to have done by December 31, 2008?
- TCA Accounting Software Newsletter Released (Apr. 16, 2008): What accounting software will you need to store your TCA data, maintain current records and report accurately in a timely fashion? This newsletter explains that there is no simple answer, and certainly no magic bullet. It doesn't examine or assess specific packages, but explores some of the generic issues that municipal finance practioners face when selecting accounting tools.
- Spring Seminar Registration Opens (Apr. 9, 2008): MFOA and AMCTO have announced the details of five in-class seminars that will be held in May and June to further assist municipal treasurers with the shift to full accrual counting. The seminars will focus on PSAB accounting and municipal budgeting. Click here to register now!
- Municipal Drains Newsletter Released (Apr. 8, 2008): The question of municipal drains should be dealt with in the inventory of tangible capital asset has been raised in the email hotline and in the training sessions. Are municipal drains municipal assets? Newsletter No. 17 provides an answer to this question.
- Webinar Registration Opens (Apr. 4, 2008): As previously announced, MFOA and AMCTO will be offering online webinars from spring to fall 2008 designed to meet the training needs of municipalities that are not yet fully into the PS 3150 implementation process or are looking for a refresher of TCA fundamentals. Click here to register now!
- Feds Release Book Value Calculator (Mar. 19, 2008): The federal government is making the Book Value Calculator (BVC), a software program orginally developed to facilitate putting federal tangible capital assets on the books, available for municipal use. The BVC incorporates deflation indices and betterment rates to produce estimates of current gross book value based on historic cost, as well as current net book values, asset betterments, amortization and remaining asset life. It can produce estimates where historical records are lacking. In the wake of a request from MFOA and AMCTO last fall, Public Works & Government Services Canada has posted an updated BVC at www.bookvaluecalculator.com. A fee will be charged for using it. The BVC and other such tools (e.g., the Deflator Index Report) may be useful to municipalities as they and their auditors consider appropriate.
- 2008 Support Program (Mar. 17, 2008): The associations have announced the shape of the 2008 support program. This will include continuation of the newsletters and online Hotline as well as online webinars targeted to municipalities not yet fully into the process plus in-class seminars dealing with "advanced" topics in the spring and fall.
- Revised Deflator Report (Mar. 16, 2008): MFOA and AMCTO recently released a Deflator Study to help municipalities estimate original costs as part of the exercise to comply with PS 3150. The report has been updated and a few wording problems, corrected. The tables in Appendices B and C are now different. Please discard the original report in favour of the revised version. The report is now accompanied by a spreadsheet to facilitate dealing with a large number of assets.
- Flora & Fauna Newsletter (Feb. 25, 2008): The subject of the latest PSAB newsletter is “Flora & Fauna — What about Trees and Polar Bears?"
- PSAB Readiness Survey (Feb. 20, 2008): The results of the the recent survey to determine how ready Ontario municipalities are for the move to accounting for tangible capital assets are in. Close to half of Ontario’s municipal treasurers participated. 93% of respondents said they are at least somewhat familiar with the new rules (up from 64% in a May 2006 survey), while 59% said that their municipality is somewhat prepared for the conversion (up from 10% in the previous survey).
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