Fiscal Manager Track · Module FM9

Module FM9: What You Should Know Before Moving On

The whole module in one paragraph Fiduciary activity requires both control and benefit-to-others, GASB 84’s test. Custodial funds handle pass-through money, using additions and deductions instead of revenues and expenses, and stay out of the government-wide statements entirely. Investment trust and private-purpose trust funds serve different kinds of beneficiaries. All fiduciary funds use accrual accounting. Pension and OPEB trust funds hold resources for future benefit obligations, and both demand genuinely sound investment policy given the heightened responsibility of managing money held for others.

Nine topics, nine takeaways

1. The GASB 84 fiduciary test
Control plus benefit to outside parties, both conditions required.
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2. Custodial funds: purpose and accounting
Pass-through money the government controls briefly but never owns.
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3. Custodial funds: reporting
Additions and deductions, not revenues and expenses, and excluded from government-wide statements.
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4. Investment trust funds
Pooled investments held for external participating governments.
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5. Private-purpose trust funds
Benefiting specific individuals or organizations, not pool participants.
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6. Preparing fiduciary fund financial statements
Accrual basis throughout, Statement of Fiduciary Net Position and Statement of Changes.
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7. Pension trust funds
Resources held in trust for future retirement benefits.
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8. OPEB trust funds
Other Postemployment Benefits, typically retiree healthcare, not always pre-funded.
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9. Sound investment policy
A real fiduciary duty, not an optional best practice.
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10. Case: student activity and booster funds
Most district-controlled club and athletic accounts fail the fiduciary test and belong in the district’s own books. Genuinely outside organizations’ funds still pass it correctly.
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Why this order Topic 1 sets the classification test everything else depends on. Topics 2-3 and 4-5 cover the two main non-benefit fiduciary fund types in parallel pairs. Topic 6 covers reporting across all of them. Topics 7-8 cover the two major benefit-related trust types. Topic 9 closes with the standard of care all of it demands. Topic 10 applies the whole module’s core test to a real situation nearly every district has faced. This completes Part I of the Fiscal Manager Track.

Check your understanding

Before moving on, take the FM9 checkpoint quiz.

Take the FM9 checkpoint quiz →