Accounting Requirements for RUS Electric Borrowers

This final rule amends the Rural Utilities Service's regulations on accounting policies and procedures for RUS electric borrowers. This final rule amends the regulations pertaining to departures from the prescribed RUS Uniform System of Accounts (USoA), by allowing RUS borrowers to implement certain revenue and expense deferral plans without obtaining prior RUS approval. It also institutes activity-based costing (functional accounting) requirements for employee pensions and benefits, payroll taxes, and insurance and establishes a new accounting interpretation that addresses the accounting requirements set forth in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 121, Accounting for the Impairment of Long-Lived Assets and for Long-Lived Assets to be Disposed of, within the framework of the RUS USoA. This final rule also establishes uniform accounting procedures for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's (NRECA) Split-Dollar life insurance program, the NRECA Special Early Retirement program, and the automatic meter reading system developed by Hunt Technologies, Inc., global positioning systems, and radio-based remote meter reading systems. This final rule also amends Accounting Interpretation No. 104 to record plant contributed by an RUS electric cooperative as an intangible asset.