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Enroll NowGroup pricing available →Request an invoice for paymentGASB 87 and GASB 96 put leases and subscription-based IT arrangements on the balance sheet — and utilities have more of both than most governments, from fleet leases and SCADA subscriptions to fiber IRUs, pole attachments, and easements. Learn to classify a contract correctly, record the liability and the entries, work through the utility-specific scope calls that trip up GASB preparers elsewhere, and explain what the new liabilities mean for your debt ratio and bond covenants. This course provides the classification, journal entries, and rate impacts for municipal electric, gas, wastewater, and water utilities.
GASB 87 (leases) and GASB 96 (subscription-based IT arrangements, or SBITAs) moved a whole category of utility contracts onto the balance sheet: fleet leases, SCADA and metering subscriptions, fiber IRUs, pole attachments, and easements. This course walks through both standards using a sample utility, Riverbend Utilities, so the classification tests and journal entries are grounded in contracts utilities actually sign.
You'll start with what makes a contract a lease versus a SBITA versus neither, then work the full lessee accounting cycle for a fleet lease — Day One recognition through five years of amortization, remeasurement, and termination. From there, the course turns to the scope calls that are specific to utilities: why purchased power is exempt from lease treatment except for a dedicated asset like a substation, how to evaluate easements and pole attachments, and when a fiber IRU is a lease rather than a service. A full SBITA module covers implementation-cost staging and allocating a shared system like SCADA across multiple funds.
The course closes with the parts that matter to finance leadership: building a contract inventory, the disclosure checklist, and what the new lease and subscription liabilities do to your debt ratio and bond covenant calculations. Note: cooperatives and investor-owned utilities follow FASB ASC 842, not GASB 87/96 — this course is written for the GASB/public-power audience.
Apply the GASB 87 and GASB 96 definitions to classify a utility contract as a lease, a SBITA, or neither.
An overview of what changed under GASB 87 and GASB 96, why utilities have more leases and subscriptions than most governments, and the five-module roadmap for working through classification, entries, scope calls, and rate impact using a sample utility, Riverbend Utilities as a case study.
What makes a contract a lease, the short-term exemption, and the full lessee accounting cycle for a fleet lease — Day One recognition, Year 1 payment and amortization, five years at a glance, variable payments, remeasurement, and termination. | 1. What Makes It a Lease & the Short-Term Exemption | 2. Day One: Recording the Lease | 3. Fleet Lease: The Numbers & Year 1 Entries | 4. Variable Payments, Remeasurement & Termination
The utility-specific judgment calls that don't come up in a typical GASB 87 example: three questions for any utility asset, why purchased power is not a lease, the dedicated-substation exception, easements and land rights, pole attachments, fiber optic conduit IRUs, and the entries when Riverbend is the lessor. | 1. Three Questions for Any Utility Asset | 2. Purchased Power & the Dedicated Substation Exception | 3. Easements, Land Rights & Pole Attachments | 4. Fiber Optic Conduit IRUs & When Riverbend Is the Lessor
What qualifies as a subscription-based IT arrangement, GASB 96 side by side with GASB 87, the three stages of implementation cost, and a full SCADA-in-the-cloud scenario with Day One and Year 1 entries, including how to allocate a shared system across funds. | 1. What Is an SBITA? & GASB 96 vs. GASB 87 | 2. Implementation Costs: Three Stages | 3. Scenario: SCADA in the Cloud — Day One & Year 1 Entries | 4. Allocating a Shared System Across Utilities
Building a contract inventory, the disclosure checklist, expense-versus-cash effects on rate setting, and what the new liabilities do to debt ratios and bond covenants — closing with a course summary.
