Authority
GASB Statement 24

Effective Date:
7/1/95

References:
See Federal and State Compliance for more information about legal compliance.

Policy:
Food Stamps
Food stamp distributions will be recognized as revenue and expenditures in the general fund. The expenditures should be recognized when the benefits are distributed to the individual recipients and the revenue should be recognized at the same time. The food stamp revenue and expenditures should be measured based on face value. Any food stamps on hand at year end, even if held by the agent, should be recorded as an asset offset by deferred revenue. These balances should also be measured at face value.

On-Behalf Payments for Fringe Benefits and Salaries
Revenues and expenditures or expenses for on-behalf payments are required by GASB-24 to be reported in the financial statements. Revenue should be recognized by the employer government, equal to the amounts that third party recipients of the payments received and that are receivable at year-end for the current fiscal year.

Employer Government Reporting

• If the employer government is not legally responsible for the payment, expenditures or expenses should equal the amount recognized as revenue.
• If the employer government is legally responsible for the payment, it should follow the accounting standards for that type of transaction to recognize expenditures or expenses and related liabilities or assets.
• For on-behalf payments that are contributions to a pension plan for which the employer is not legally responsible, the employer government should disclose the name of the plan that covers its employees and the name of the entity that makes the contributions.

• On-behalf payment expenditures/expenses should be classified in the same manner that similar cash grants to other entities are recorded.

• The revenues and expenditures for on-behalf payments made by foundations, including nongovernmental foundations, must be recognized. For example, salary payments made to coaches, professors or chancellors by foundations would be recognized.

Additional Information:
The following criteria should be used in identifying a pass-through grant that should be reported in the agency fund:

• Functions solely as an agency for some other government in collecting and forwarding funds.
• No responsibility for subrecipient monitoring for specific requirements,
• No responsibility for determining the eligibility of recipients,
• No discretion in the allocation of grant funds and
• Not liable for grant repayments.