Electric Co-op Today

NRECA’s Russ Wasson, an expert on co-ops’ financial operations, will bring the industry’s perspective to an organization that sets policies that help define the environment in which these operations take place.

Russ Wasson

Wasson, director of tax, finance and accounting policy, has been appointed to the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Small Business Advisory Committee.

The association executive was nominated and sponsored by the National Cooperative Business Association for a slot that traditionally has a co-op representative, although not previously someone from NRECA or a member co-op. He began service this month.

Representation on FASB, which establishes financial accounting and reporting standards for companies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, is vital, Wasson says, because much of what the Norwalk, Conn.-based organization does impacts all electric co-ops.

“The standards that FASB develops are important to the efficient functioning of the economy because investors, creditors, auditors and others rely on credible, transparent and comparable financial information,” he noted.

The stakes are higher because FASB is in “a very active period—the most active period in its history,” Wasson said. “The major changes under consideration could have a significant impact on our members.”

The board will issue 11 exposure drafts—proposed statements of financial accounting standards or concepts—by June 30, he said, far more than its previous single-year record of four.

NRECA and its members are currently following 18 FASB projects, many of which are joint undertakings with the International Accounting Standards Board, Wasson reported.

“We anticipate that the pace of change will continue to accelerate,” he said, “and that we will be faced with substantial accounting changes going forward.”

Tags: Business and Finance