In the United States, a permanent fund is one of the five
governmental fund types established by
GAAP
Gaap (also ''Tap'', ''Coap'', ''Taob'', ''Goap'') is a demon that is described in demonological grimoires such as ''the Lesser Key of Solomon'', Johann Weyer's ''Pseudomonarchia Daemonum'', and the Munich Manual of Demonic Magic, as well as Jac ...
. It is classified as a restricted true endowment fund for governments and non-profit organizations. Put simply, a permanent fund may be used to generate and disburse money to those entitled to receive payments by qualification or agreement, as in the case of Alaska citizens or residents that satisfy the rules for payment from their permanent fund from State oil revenues. It was first introduced through
GASB Statement 34. The name of the fund comes from the purpose of the fund: a sum of equity used to permanently generate payments to maintain some financial obligation. Also, a fund can only be classified as a permanent fund if the money is used to report the status of a restricted financial resource. The resource is restricted in the sense that only earnings from the resource are used and not the principal. For example, a fund can be classified as a permanent fund if it is being used to pay for accounting services for a perpetual endowment of a government-run cemetery or
financial endowment
A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are o ...
s towards a government-run library.
A common misconception is that permanent funds are required for special-purpose government entities that solely engage in business-type activities. However, this is not the case. According to Statement 34, that special-purpose government entity needs only to report the net balance of the restricted resources.
See also
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The Petroleum Fund of Norway
The Government Pension Fund of Norway ( no, Statens pensjonsfond) comprises two entirely separate sovereign wealth funds owned by the government of Norway.
The Government Pension Fund Global, also known as the Oil Fund, was established in 1990 t ...
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Permanent School Fund
The Texas Permanent School Fund is a sovereign wealth fund which serves to provide revenues for funding of public primary and secondary education in the US state of Texas. Its assets include many publicly owned lands within Texas and various othe ...
- funds K–12 schools in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, mostly from oil and natural gas revenue.
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Permanent University Fund
The Permanent University Fund (PUF) is a sovereign wealth fund created by the State of Texas to fund public higher education within the state. A portion of the returns from the PUF are annually directed towards the Available University Fund (AUF ...
- funds universities in Texas, mostly from oil and gas revenue.
* The
Alaska Permanent Fund
The Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) is a constitutionally established permanent fund managed by a state-owned corporation, the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC). It was established in Alaska in 1976 by Article 9, Section 15 of the Alaska Stat ...
provides annual dividends to residents of the State of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
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Public company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...
*
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Federal Accountability Act (Canada)
External links
GAO History Government Accounting OfficePDF - Capital Asset Accounting System(Permission to quote granted in the document)
- Above document must now be purchased {dead link, date=March 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Accounting in the United States
Government Accountability Office
Government audit
Government finances in the United States
Political corruption
Single Audit