The purpose of this bulletin is to update and revisit our 1994 bulletin. This revision includes additional guidance on the types of liabilities that should be included as part of the compensated absences liability, clarifies the differences between current and long-term compensated absences liabilities, and discusses funding for compensated absences as it applies to the General Municipal Law (GML) §6-p “Employee Benefit Accrued Liability Reserve Fund (EBALR).”

This bulletin provides updated information on the accounting for aid received from the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS), superseding an earlier bulletin issued by the Office of the State Comptroller for local governments in New York State. This bulletin incorporates threshold changes and updated account codes used for reporting. All previous guidance has been incorporated into this bulletin.
Updated December 2015 (Originally Issued October 1991)

Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2011 amended Article 23 of the Tax Law to, among other things, exempt public schools and BOCES in the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD)1 from the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax, effective April 1, 2012. In addition, the payroll threshold and payroll tax rates have been adjusted for all other local government employers within the MCTD.

This bulletin provides updated information on pension accounting and reporting, superseding earlier bulletins issued by the Office of the State Comptroller for local government employers in New York State. All applicable previous guidance has been incorporated into this bulletin, as well as corrections to past instructions for expenditure and liability recognition of pension costs in governmental funds.
Updated May 2015 (Originally Issued September 2011)

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide guidance related to the accounting for Medicaid reimbursements paid by the Department of Health (DOH) and the resulting State Aid Deduction for those Medicaid reimbursements based upon a change in the Medicaid reimbursement methodology.

The temporary unlimited insurance coverage for noninterest-bearing transaction accounts provided under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act expired on December 31, 2012. Therefore, after December 31, 2012, deposits held in noninterest-bearing transaction accounts are aggregated with other demand accounts (e.g., “traditional” noninterest-bearing checking accounts) and will be insured by the FDIC only up to the $250,000 limit per custodian per insured bank. Deposits that exceed the $250,000 FDIC coverage must be secured in accordance with statutory requirements.

This bulletin provides information on the reporting requirements of deferred inflows of resources and deferred outflows of resources as required by Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 63, Financial Reporting of Deferred Outflows of Resources, Deferred Inflows of Resources, and Net Position (Statement 63), and GASB Statement No. 65, Items Previously Reported as Assets and Liabilities (Statement 65).

The Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010. As a result, the eligibility requirements for Medicaid have expanded and New York State (State) will now see an increased enrollment in the program as of January 2014. To assist with the additional costs associated with the increased coverage, the Federal government is providing additional Medicaid relief funding. This funding is anticipated to start in January 2014.

This bulletin provides updated guidance related to accounting for retained percentages for governmental and proprietary funds in fund level financial records. It also updates previous accounting guidance based on the current standards for liability recognition and measurement and it also establishes a new retained percentages account code.
Updated November 2021 (Previously Updated May 2017)

An accounting code has been established in the Comptroller’s Uniform System of Accounts for recording revenues relating to reorganization and efficiency grants.