Top Reasons to Change Your GASB 45 Valuation Schedule

GASB 45 requires a complete actuarial valuation of public retiree health plans to be completed every 2 to 3 years (depending on number of plan members), and sponsors usually don’t look forward to the administrative hassles of their next study. However, there are several situations where a new valuation could be advantageous and, likely, mandatory.

In addition to the standard 2 or 3-year cycle, GASB 45 rules also state that:

“A new valuation should be performed if, since the previous valuation, significant changes have occurred that affect the results of the valuation, including significant changes in benefit provisions, the size or composition of the population, … or other factors that impact long-term assumptions.”

Below are some factors which can compel a new valuation sooner than the standard 2 or 3- year cycle:

• Establishing an OPEB trust.
  • If a revocable trust is established, then this won’t change the unfunded liability for accounting purposes, but it can affect the liability discount rate. See our previous post on the effect of OPEB trusts on GASB 45 discount rates.
  • If an irrevocable trust is established, the discount rate may be impacted and the assets will decrease the plan’s unfunded liability. This will likely reduce the GASB 45 annual accounting expense (Annual OPEB Cost).

• Large change in retiree health benefits. This includes changes to plan coverage levels (e.g., deductibles and co-pays), premiums, or eligibility for benefits.

If employment contracts are amended to scale back (or increase) the amount of retiree health benefits paid by the employer, then this can have a big impact on plan liabilities as costs are shifted to retirees. See our previous post on the leveraging effect of OPEB liabilities.

Plan changes will affect the per-member costs and will likely affect future assumptions about retiree participation in the plan. A new valuation should be performed to capture this liability increase (or decrease) as soon as possible for the year of change.

• Large change in number of employees or retirees. If there are significant employee layoffs/retirements or if many retirees drop coverage due to increasing costs, then a new valuation may be needed to accurately capture the effect on the plan’s GASB 45 liabilities.

There are likely many other scenarios which would require a new GASB 45 study. This is especially true in the case of a plan on the 3-year cycle where there is an increased likelihood of a significant change in the “off-cycle” periods.