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GASB 34 Reporting: What It Requires From School Districts and Local Governments

Sherman Hsieh

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Last updated: October 8, 2026 · Independent guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.

GASB 34 is the Governmental Accounting Standards Board statement, issued in June 1999, that set the reporting model US state and local governments still use, including school districts and small towns. It requires management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A), full accrual government-wide statements, fund statements, a reconciliation between the two, notes, and required supplementary information (RSI). It also put all capital assets, including infrastructure, on the statement of net position. GASB 103 and GASB 104 changed parts of the model starting with fiscal years that began after June 15, 2025.

What GASB 34 requires in detail

The model gives readers two views of one government (GASB Statement No. 34 summary, issued June 1999). Fund statements show spendable resources and compliance; government-wide statements show the full cost of services and long-term obligations.

Government-wide statements

The statement of net position and the statement of activities use full accrual accounting. They show governmental and business-type activities in separate columns, plus discretely presented component units, and leave out fiduciary activities. The statement of activities uses a “net (expense) revenue” format: each function, such as instruction or public works, shows expenses less its own program revenues, and general revenues such as property taxes appear below.

Fund financial statements

Governmental funds report a balance sheet and a statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balances on the modified accrual basis. Proprietary funds (enterprise and internal service) report on full accrual and include a direct-method cash flow statement. Fiduciary funds report statements of fiduciary net position and changes in fiduciary net position.

Major funds get their own columns. A fund is major when its assets, liabilities, revenues, or expenditures/expenses reach at least 10 percent of the governmental or enterprise total and at least 5 percent of the combined total. The general fund is always major, and you may present any fund as major if officials consider it particularly important.

The reconciliation

GASB 34 requires “a summary reconciliation to the government-wide financial statements” on the face of the fund statements or in a schedule. You need two: fund balance to net position, and change in fund balance to change in net position (Washington State Auditor’s Office, no date shown). The table is an illustration with invented figures for a small district.

Real reconciliations also carry pension, OPEB, lease and subscription liabilities and deferred inflows and outflows.

Capital asset and infrastructure reporting

GASB 34 requires governments to “report all capital assets, including infrastructure assets” on the statement of net position and generally to report depreciation in the statement of activities. GASB 63 later renamed the capital component of equity “net investment in capital assets” (North Carolina Office of the State Controller, March 1, 2013).

Under the modified approach, infrastructure that is part of a network does not have to be depreciated if the government uses an asset management system and documents that the network is preserved at or above a disclosed condition level. It requires additional RSI, so it suits governments that already rate pavement or bridges.

Each government sets its own capitalization threshold. The Government Finance Officers Association recommends at least $5,000 per item and a two-year useful life (GFOA, approved February 6, 2006). For federally funded equipment, the Uniform Guidance threshold is the lesser of your capitalization level or $10,000 per unit (2 CFR 200.1, eCFR current as of October 6, 2026).

Infrastructure rules are under review. GASB’s April 9, 2026 exposure draft, Infrastructure Assets, proposes separate depreciation of significant components, periodic review of useful lives, and disclosures by network, including the age of assets past 80 percent of their useful lives (CPA Practice Advisor, April 9, 2026). Forvis Mazars, an audit and advisory firm, says GASB expects a final statement in March 2027 (Forvis Mazars, September 8, 2026). Nothing changes until a final statement is issued.

Current status: later statements that changed the model

GASB 34 has not been withdrawn, but these statements amended it. Effective dates are from GASB’s pronouncements page and each statement summary.

What GASB 103 means for this year’s report

MD&A is now limited to five sections: overview of the financial statements, financial summary, detailed analyses, significant capital asset and long-term financing activity, and currently known facts, decisions, or conditions. The analyses must explain why balances changed, “rather than simply presenting the amounts or percentages” (GASB Statement No. 103 summary, issued April 2024).

Unusual or infrequent items take the place of GASB 34’s extraordinary and special items (BDO, September 16, 2024) and appear as the last flows before the net change. Budgetary comparisons must be RSI, with original-to-final and final-to-actual variances and explanations of significant variances. Enterprise funds, such as a food service fund or water utility, add a subtotal for operating income (loss) and noncapital subsidies. Statement No. 105, Subsequent Events, follows for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2026.

Who is covered and who is exempt

GASB 34 covers states, cities, towns, villages, school districts and other special-purpose governments. A district with governmental activities reports like a general purpose government. A special-purpose government with only business-type activities, such as a utility district, presents enterprise fund statements with MD&A and RSI instead.

There is no size exemption, although governments under $10 million in revenue at the phase-in could report general infrastructure prospectively only. Some states also let smaller governments prepare cash-basis statements; Washington, for example, lets local governments report on either a GAAP or cash basis (Washington State Auditor’s Office, no date shown). That is a state rule, and those statements are not GASB 34 statements.

Deadlines and penalties

GASB sets no filing deadline and imposes no penalties. The University of Tennessee’s County Technical Assistance Service notes that GASB has no legislative authority, and that any Tennessee county not compliant with GASB 34 after the June 30, 2004 deadline received an adverse audit opinion (CTAS, no date shown).

Your state sets the due date for audited statements. If you spend $1,000,000 or more in federal awards, you need a Single Audit (2 CFR 200.501), due the earlier of 30 days after the auditor’s report or nine months after year end (2 CFR 200.512, both current as of October 6, 2026). GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement requires the ACFR within six months of year end (GFOA, no date shown). See our guide to the schedule of expenditures of federal awards for the Single Audit side.

Records you must keep

• Capital asset register: ID, description, acquisition date, cost, function, funding source, useful life and disposals. Federally funded equipment also needs award ID, federal share, location and condition, and a physical inventory reconciled at least every two years (2 CFR 200.313).
• Long-term liability schedules: bonds, leases, SBITAs, compensated absences, pension and OPEB.
• Fund balance support: board actions behind committed amounts and the policy for assignments.
• Budget records: the original budget and every amendment.
• Conversion workpapers: the entries that turn fund balances into government-wide figures.

What to set up in your systems

Most fund accounting systems keep the ledger on modified accrual by fund, then produce the government-wide statements by conversion. The Ohio Auditor of State’s webGAAP guidance for school districts shows the sequence: map funds to the GASB 34 structure, build modified accrual trial balances per fund, then a consolidation that adds capital assets, long-term debt and internal service funds and eliminates interfund activity (Ohio Auditor of State, April 29, 2021).

• Chart of accounts: fund, function and program segments that match the statement of activities, and a GASB 54 classification on each fund balance account.
• Fixed assets: a governmental or business-type flag, a function code for depreciation, and separate classes for lease, SBITA and intangible assets and held-for-sale status under GASB 104.
• Conversion layer: a full accrual ledger or a documented worksheet, posted after the funds close.
• Budget versions: original and final budgets stored separately for the GASB 103 variances.
• Interfund coding: distinct accounts for transfers, loans and services so they eliminate cleanly.

Oracle Fusion Assets documents a GASB 34 setup with a full accrual secondary ledger that capitalizes items the primary ledger expenses (Oracle, February 5, 2026). Sage Intacct markets “GASB-compliant fund accounting” (Sage, no date shown), but that page does not describe how the conversion is produced. Black Mountain Software lists an Asset Manager with depreciation and disposal schedules, but its page does not mention GASB 34 (Black Mountain Software, modified May 12, 2025). Tyler Technologies’ Enterprise ERP page names school districts as users without detailing GASB reporting (Tyler, no date shown).

Our guides to accounting close automation, fixed asset accounting software and fund accounting software cover the tools.

How we researched this

We read GASB’s summaries of Statements 34, 54, 63, 84, 87, 96, 103 and 104 and its pronouncements list on October 8, 2026, plus the eCFR, GFOA guidance, state guidance from Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington, a BDO summary of GASB 103, and vendors’ own pages. We also reviewed the pages ranking for “GASB 34,” which mostly cover asset inventories and skip the later statements and the conversion.

Related guides

• Encumbrance Accounting: Entries, Year-End and GASB 54
• GASB 87 Lease Accounting: Entries, Example and Software
• Single Audit Requirements: $1M Threshold and Major Programs

Frequently asked questions

Is GASB 34 still in effect?

Yes. It remains the foundation of the governmental reporting model, but GASB 54, 63, 84, 87, 96, 103 and 104 have amended it. Read GASB 34 together with those statements.

Do school districts have to follow GASB 34?

Public school districts that issue GAAP statements do, and GASB 34 names school districts explicitly. Some states let smaller governments use a cash basis instead, which is a state rule rather than a GASB exemption.

What is the modified approach for infrastructure?

It lets you skip depreciation on networked infrastructure such as roads. You must run an asset management system, assess condition, show the network meets a disclosed condition level, and report the results as RSI.

When does GASB 103 take effect?

For fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2025. A June 30 government applies it to the year ended June 30, 2026, and a calendar-year government to the year ending December 31, 2026.

Sources

• GASB, Summary of Statement No. 34, Basic Financial Statements, and Management’s Discussion and Analysis, for State and Local Governments, issued June 1999 (checked October 8, 2026)
• GASB, Summary of Statement No. 103, Financial Reporting Model Improvements, issued April 2024
• GASB, Summary of Statement No. 104, Disclosure of Certain Capital Assets, issued September 2024
• GASB, Summary of Statement No. 54, Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions, issued February 2009
• GASB, Summary of Statement No. 63, issued June 2011
• GASB, Summary of Statement No. 84, Fiduciary Activities, issued January 2017
• GASB, Summary of Statement No. 87, Leases, issued June 2017
• GASB, Summary of Statement No. 96, Subscription-Based Information Technology Arrangements, issued May 2020
• GASB, Pronouncements list including Statement No. 105, no date shown (checked October 8, 2026)
• CPA Practice Advisor, GASB Looks to Improve Guidance on Infrastructure Assets, April 9, 2026
• Forvis Mazars, GASB 2026-2027 Outlook, September 8, 2026 (firm sells audit and advisory services)
• North Carolina Office of the State Controller, GASB 63 focus area, March 1, 2013
• GFOA, Capitalization Thresholds for Capital Assets, approved February 6, 2006
• GFOA, COA Program: Submit an Application, no date shown
• 2 CFR 200.1, 200.313, 200.501 and 200.512, eCFR current as of October 6, 2026
• Ohio Auditor of State, webGAAP Conversion Process Overview, April 29, 2021
• BDO, GASB 103, Financial Reporting Model Improvements, September 16, 2024 (firm sells audit and advisory services)
• Washington State Auditor’s Office, Note X: Reconciliation of Government-wide and Fund Financial Statements, no date shown
• Washington State Auditor’s Office, GAAP Versus Cash Basis Reporting, no date shown
• University of Tennessee CTAS, GASB 34, no date shown
• Oracle, Guidelines for Allowing an Expense Type Account as the Asset Clearing Account for GASB 34, February 5, 2026 (vendor)
• Sage Intacct, Government and public benefit organizations, no date shown (vendor)
• Tyler Technologies, Enterprise ERP, no date shown (vendor)
• Black Mountain Software, Fund Accounting, modified May 12, 2025 (vendor)

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Sherman Hsieh

CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Business-Software.com
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more

Sherman Hsieh is the founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Business-Software.com. He leads the site's independent, buyer-focused coverage of ERP, CRM, and other business systems, including vendor-neutral comparisons, pricing analysis, and implementation guidance. Before founding Business-Software.com, Sherman was an executive at Siebel ...