Teaching GASB to New Staff Without Overwhelming Them

If you've ever hired a new team member—intern, staff auditor, or seasonal help—and handed them a school district audit with the phrase,

“It’s just fund accounting—it’ll make sense eventually,”
you probably saw the panic in their eyes.

GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) is a different world than for-profit or even nonprofit audits.

Fund types, dual-basis reporting, government-wide vs. fund-level financials, MD&A, RSI—it’s a lot.

And while your new staff doesn’t need to become a GASB expert overnight, they do need to understand the basics so they can work confidently and avoid costly errors.

Here’s how to teach GASB to new staff without overwhelming them—while building confidence and competence early.

1. Start With What’s Different—Not What’s Complex

You don’t need to explain GASB 34 on Day 1. You need to help them spot what’s different about governmental audits vs. the types they’ve seen before.

✅ Teach First:

• What a fund is (and why governments use them)

• The difference between modified accrual and full accrual

• What the financial statements include—and how they’re grouped

• The role of budget vs. actual reporting

• What “government-wide” really means

This context gives them a framework. Without it, every workpaper feels disconnected.

2. Break It Down by Audit Area

Rather than teaching GASB as one big block of knowledge, teach it in the context of the work they’re doing.

✅ Example:

If they’re working on capital assets, walk through:

• How governments track assets

• What gets capitalized

• How depreciation is handled

• Where those numbers show up in the financials and notes

Then give them a template and a sample schedule.

Teach the technical just-in-time—when it applies to the task in front of them.

3. Use Templates That Teach

Templates aren’t just time-savers—they’re teaching tools.

When your workpapers include:

• Built-in formulas

• Clear tie-outs to trial balance accounts

• Comments that explain logic or source

• Placeholder notes for fund names or financial statement line items

Your staff isn’t just filling out a form—they’re learning the process behind it.

Make your templates part of your training strategy.

4. Create a Simple “GASB Starter Kit”

Rather than dumping 200 pages of standards on a new hire, create a short internal guide with:

• A list of the most relevant GASB concepts (GASB 34, 54, 87, etc.)

• Definitions of key terms (modified accrual, SEFA, fund balance types)

• Sample financial statements with color-coded annotations

• Links to useful resources (GASB plain-language summaries, AICPA guides)

• Your firm’s most common disclosures, already formatted and explained

Give them a reference they can actually use during fieldwork—not just theory.

5. Teach What They’ll Review Later

If staff can’t explain what they prepared, they’re not ready to review someone else’s work.

Train them to:

• Trace numbers from workpapers to financial statements

• Explain how a capital asset addition flows to depreciation

• Describe why an adjustment was made

• Spot what’s missing in a note disclosure

This mindset sets them up to be future reviewers—not just preparers.

6. Normalize Asking Questions and Getting It Wrong

GASB isn’t intuitive. It’s okay if new staff don’t get it right the first time. What matters is that they feel safe to ask.

Create a culture where questions like:

• “What’s the difference between unrestricted and unassigned fund balance?”

• “Why are we reporting leases now?”

• “How do I know this footnote is complete?”
  …are welcomed, not dismissed.

Confidence grows with clarity.

Teach for Understanding, Not Just Completion

You don’t need to turn your staff into GASB scholars. You just need to give them:

✅ The context to understand the work
✅ The tools to do it well
✅ The confidence to keep learning

Because every great reviewer, partner, or firm leader started where they are now—trying to figure out fund accounting from a spreadsheet they didn’t build.

Help them connect the dots.
And your whole firm gets stronger because of it.