The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) invites comment on ITC 15 Request for Comment on the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) Exposure Draft ED 34 ‘Social Benefits: Disclosure of Cash Transfers to Individuals’ or Households and IPSASB Consultation Paper ‘Social Benefits: Issues in Recognition and Measurement’ (pdf). 
 
IPSASB ED 34 proposes particular disclosure requirements for public sector entities (generally governments) in respect of their cash transfer social benefits. It defines a cash transfer as a “social benefit, which is either provided directly in cash, or is an expense paid through the tax system, to protect individuals or households against certain social risks where use of the resources transferred is at the discretion of the individual or household”. Examples of these cash transfers are social security pensions, child benefits and unemployment benefits. 
 
The IPSASB Consultation Paper distinguishes three types of social benefits – namely, collective goods and services, individual goods and services, and cash transfers to individuals or households. The paper raises the following questions:

• (In respect of each of these types of social benefits) whether a present obligation to provide them arises at any time and, if so, when 
  
• (In respect of cash transfers to an individual or household) whether and, if so, when, a present obligation arises if contributions of resources to the government are required for the individual or household to become entitled to benefits 
  
• (In relation to cash transfer programs that require individuals or households to revalidate their entitlement to benefits from time to time), whether revalidation is a criterion for the recognition of any such liabilities or a factor to take into account in the measurement of the liabilities 
  
• whether a social benefit program should be treated as an in-substance ‘executory contract’.