CASB issues three proposals, selects CPA as new board member.

The Cost Accounting Standards Board (CASB) issued a proposed rulemaking and two discussion papers for public comment. The three new proposals would affect CPAs in industry and public practice who work in the government contracting industry. An independent body in the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), the CASB has the authority to create, amend and rescind cost accounting standards for contracts and subcontracts with the U.S. government.

The proposed rulemaking, Changes in Cost Accounting Practices, would amend current regulatory provisions on the definitions that govern cost accounting practices. The CASB had heard from several contractors and contractor industry associations that the definitions and illustrations governing changes in cost accounting practices needed further clarification. The new rule not only would amend certain definitions of cost accounting practices but would describe the complete administrative process to be followed when changes in cost accounting practices occur. The comment period for this proposed rulemaking ends on December 2.

The CASB also is seeking comments on Cost Accounting Standard Relating to the Treatment of Costs of Post-Retirement Benefit Plans Other Than Pension Plans Sponsored by Government Contractors. The discussion paper examines how postretirement benefits should be defined, looks at whether liability should be used as a prerequisite for accrual accounting and discusses assigning unfunded actuarial liabilities to certain periods for the purposes of accrual accounting. The comment period for this discussion paper ends on December 19, 1996.

The discussion paper Allocation of Selling and Marketing Costs examines the relationship of selling costs to final cost objectives and allocations. It also looks at allocating selling and marketing costs as direct or indirect costs to government contracts. Its comment period ended in November.

New CASB member

James P. Bedingfield, CPA, professor of accounting at the University of Maryland, College Park, is the CASB's newest board member. Chairman of the accounting faculty at the University of Maryland, Bedingfield has served as a consultant to the U.S. Air Force, Navy., Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Justice and a number of private companies on issues relating to government contract accounting.

The CASB is composed of five members: the administrator of OFPP, representatives from the Department of Defense and the General Services Administration and two members from the private sector. Bedingfield will serve on the CASB for two years.