Document
Legal Services Corporation Financial Guide; Request for Comments
The Legal Services Corporation ("LSC") has drafted revisions to its Accounting Guide and retitled it as the Financial Guide. LSC seeks comments on the draft Financial Guide.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has conducted a comprehensive review of the
Accounting Guide for LSC Recipients, 2010 Edition.
Based on input from LSC grantees and LSC fiscal compliance analysis staff, LSC believes that the format of the Accounting Guide no longer best serves grantees or LSC. LSC has restructured the document and renamed it the
Financial Guide.
The new draft
Financial Guide
removes outdated or inapplicable materials, improves materials directly related to LSC-specific issues, and adds clarity about both required and recommended financial practices. The draft
Financial Guide
also addresses areas that were previously identified as problematic, such as Cost Allocation, and assists grantees in the financial management of LSC grants.
LSC has removed sections that provided general accounting and financial guidance, because neither LSC nor grantees found these sections useful. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) establishes and updates the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) that provide the applicable accounting methods and practices. The draft
Financial Guide
references GAAP requirements rather than restating them.
Overall, the draft
Financial Guide
conforms to existing LSC and grantee practices and requirements. Additionally, in some places, the draft
Financial Guide
sets out requirements that have not previously been published for comment.
LSC has published on the
Matters for Comment
web page on
www.lsc.gov
the draft
Financial Guide
for comment and a reference guide to the draft updates and new requirements. LSC seeks comments on the entire draft
Financial Guide,
particularly the sections with significant changes. LSC will review the comments and, if possible, implement the
Financial Guide
with any appropriate revisions before January 1, 2021.
LSC also seeks comment on the following question:
Should LSC implement the new Financial Guide as of a single date for all grantees (
e.g.,
January 1, 2021) or by applying it to each grantee with the start of the grantee's new fiscal year.
Dated: July 1, 2020.
Mark Freedman,
Senior Associate General Counsel.