CHICAGO — A new accounting rule is requiring North Dakota to come clean about its pension debt, but the state is still hiding millions of pension and health care debt from its financial reports. This information is released today in a report titled, The Financial State of North Dakota, by Truth in Accounting (TIA), a Chicago-based think tank that analyzes government financials.
Because this pension rule was not required in previous years, state officials used outdated accounting methods to calculate the state’s debt. As a result, North Dakota did not report any pension debt in 2014 and reported only $332.4 million in 2015, which is still inaccurate.
“This new accounting rule is supposed to force state officials to be completely transparent about the state’s debt, but it’s still not happening,” said Sheila Weinberg, Founder and CEO of TIA.
According to TIA’s report, North Dakota has $364.2 million of pension debt, but state officials only reported $332.4 million. In addition, state officials are also hiding $44.3 million of retiree health care debt. Despite this hidden debt, TIA researchers found that North Dakota is in good financial shape.
“It’s great to see the state in good financial shape, but we encourage the State Board of Accountancy and Governor Dalrymple to be fully transparent with the state’s finances,” said Weinberg. “The taxpayers deserve to know the true financial condition of their state.”
TIA researchers recalculated North Dakota’s overall financial position and discovered the state has a $8.2 billion surplus. When this surplus is divided amongst North Dakota taxpayers, each taxpayer’s share is $28,400 – the state’s taxpayer surplus.
Data is derived from the state of North Dakota’s June 30, 2015, audited Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and retirement plans' actuarial reports.
Founded in 2002, Truth in Accounting is dedicated to educating and empowering citizens with understandable, reliable, and transparent government financial information. Sheila Weinberg is a Certified Public Accountant with more than 30 years of experience in the field.
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Contact: Katherine Oxenreiter
312.589.5104
press@truthinaccounting.org
koxenreiter@truthinaccounting.org