The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) sets generally accepted accounting principles for state and local governments. The CACOA does not compete with those standards and does not change them.
- GASB decides what must be recognized, measured, and disclosed. When revenue is earned, whether a lease is a liability, how a pension is measured.
- The CACOA decides where it is recorded. Which fund, which object, which function, and therefore which line of each report.
In practice the two meet in the object descriptions. Each CACOA object carries a plain-language description, a note on the related GASB guidance, accounting and reporting notes, examples, and exclusions. The notes point to the standard; they do not restate or reinterpret it.
What the structure reflects
The code blocks follow the way governmental accounting already works:
- Fund accounting. Funds are the unit of accountability, and fund categories (general, special revenue, capital projects, debt service, permanent, enterprise, internal service, fiduciary) follow GASB Statement 54 and Statement 84.
- Measurement focus. Governmental funds use the current financial resources focus and modified accrual basis. Capital assets, long-term liabilities, and pension and OPEB balances for governmental activities belong in the government-wide ledger (fund 980), not in the governmental funds.
- The statement of net position elements. Assets, deferred outflows of resources, liabilities, deferred inflows of resources, and net position each have their own object class (GASB Statements 63 and 65).
- Newer standards. Leases (GASB 87), subscription-based IT arrangements (GASB 96), and compensated absences (GASB 101) have dedicated codes, because the FTR reports them on separate lines.
Where judgment stays local
A chart of accounts cannot make a recognition decision. Whether a grant is restricted, whether a transfer is a loan, or whether a payment is a reimbursement are judgments the agency and its auditors make. The CACOA makes those decisions visible by giving each outcome its own code, so the choice is recorded once and reported consistently.