Government Lease Implementation in the CNMI and Guam

From September 7-16, 2022, the Pacific and Virgin Islands Training Initiatives (PITI-VITI) offered on-site training to the Guam and CNMI governments to support the implementation of new lease accounting standards.

The new GASB standards have altered the historical landscape of how lease accounting has always been performed and recently became effective. The GASB 87 standard does away with the methodology of previous leasing accounting but also introduces new concepts for what is a lease and what is not a lease. As a result of this critical change in the new GASB Accounting standards, PITI-VITI responded to the request for in-person training from the CNMI’s Department of Finance and Guam’s Office of Public Accountability and Department of Administration.

Participants met in a classroom format on the initial training day and then attended one-on-one meetings to work with subject matter experts to apply course concepts and review, discuss and analyze their respective leases. Personalized consultations and on-site meetings with government organizations included an Excel analytical tool, allowing participants to accurately classify and interpret their respective leases and calculate the associated financial impact. A final day closing session was offered to enable participants to review findings and ask questions.

Forty-eight CNMI and 106 Guam participants attended the training. Remote follow-up support will be provided to insular government agencies as they finalize their single audits and implement the new standard.

This training was supported by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs and delivered by the Pacific & Virgin Islands Training Initiatives.