GASB issues Statement No. 52 on land and other real estate.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (www.gasb.org) has issued GASB Statement No. 52, Land and Other Real Estate Held as Investments by Endowments. The statement improves the quality of financial reporting by requiring endowments to report their land and other real estate investments at fair value, creating consistency in reporting among similar entities that exist to invest resources for the purpose of generating income.

Prior to the issuance of Statement 52, state and local government endowments were i required to report land and other real estate held as investments at historical cost, which provides information on investment results only in the year the investments are sold. However, entities that perform investment functions similar to endowments---including...