Other Postemployment Benefits

Welcome to the Department of Finance & Administration, Division of Accounts OPEB information sharing website.

Other postemployment benefits (OPEB) refers to the benefits, other than pensions, that a state or local government employee receives as part of his or her package of retirement benefits.

In June 2015, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) approved the issuance of two new Statements that are designed to improve the usefulness of information about OPEB in the general purpose external financial reports of state and local governmental plans.

GASB Statement No. 75, Accounting and Financial Reporting by Employers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions, applicable for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2017, addresses accounting and financial reporting by government employers.

Currently, the state of Tennessee administers four OPEB plans covering employees of the state primary government, state component units, local education agencies and other local governments and is therefore subject to the requirements of this statement. These plans are the Employee Group, Teacher Group, Local Government and Tennessee OPEB Plans.

GASB Statement No. 74, Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefit Plans Other Than Pension Plans, applicable for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2016, addresses financial reporting by plans that administer OPEB benefits on behalf of governments.  Annual valuation reports are required to be obtained for any OPEB plans that are administered through qualifying trusts. Currently, the state administered Employee Group OPEB Plan is the only plan subject to these financial reporting  requirements. The state prepares a stand-alone financial report for this plan.

The State of Tennessee has engaged an actuary to provide the valuation reports required by these standards for all employers participating in the four state administered OPEB plans. Based on these reports, the actuary has also prepared suggested journal entries, note disclosures and required supplementary information for each local education agency and local government participating employer to assist in accounting and reporting for their individual OPEB plans.

These suggested entries and disclosures are being provided for the convenience of each employer.   The management of each individual employer remains responsible for understanding the results presented in the actuarial reports, for determining the required entries and disclosures; and, for properly applying the applicable provisions of the GASB standards to their financial statements. It is recommended that employers utilize the services of their internal and external auditors to assist in this process.

The plan valuation reports that consolidate the employer results for Statement No. 75, the valuation report that covers the Statement No. 74 reporting requirements for the trusted OPEB plan; and, the stand-alone financial report for the trusted OPEB plan can be obtained by contacting Ike Boone at Ike.Boone@tn.gov.

Individual employer valuation reports, as well as information on suggested journal entries and disclosures will be provided, by the actuary, directly to participating employers. A contact listing for each OPEB plan will be maintained by Benefits Administration and provided to the actuary on an annual basis. To update contact information or for any other plan/report related questions, please contact Joshua Burns at Joshua.J.Burns@tn.gov or Lindsey Lattner at Lindsey.S.Lattner@tn.gov.