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INTRODUCTION 14 Examples of condition information are averages of standardized condition rating codes; percentage of assets above, at, or below acceptable condition; or narrative information. If the agency chooses to use the total life-cycle cost method, it should include the following for each major class of PP&E: a. the original date of the maintenance forecast and an explanation for any changes to the forecast. b. prior-year balance of the cumulative deferred maintenance amount. c. the dollar amount of maintenance that was defined by the professionals who designed, built, or manage the PP&E as required maintenance for the reporting period. d. the dollar amount of maintenance actually performed during the period. e. difference between the forecast and actual maintenance. f. any adjustments to the scheduled amounts deemed necessary by the managers of the PP&E. g. the ending cumulative balance for the reporting period for each major class of asset experiencing deferred maintenance. The standard states that agencies may provide as optional information the stratification between critical and noncritical amounts of maintenance needed to return each major class of asset to its acceptable operating condition. If management elects to report this information, management's definitions of critical and noncritical maintenance must be included; Standard Number 6, as amended, does not provide definitions for critical or noncritical maintenance. STUDY ORIGIN The FASAB, 6 the entity that created Standard Number 6, has determined that information about deferred maintenance is of importance to users of federal financial reports and for measuring an agency's effectiveness and efficiency in managing PP&E. Recognizing that this is a new standard, specifically with regard to deferred maintenance reporting, the FASAB believed that a period of experimentation was desirable to determine the best methods to report deferred maintenance. Experience to date with implementing the standard has raised concerns by both agencies and auditors regarding the number of different interpretations of the standard, as well as cost- benefit and audit issues. The FASAB and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) suggested that an interagency project be initiated to suggest government-wide methods to calculate 6 State and local government agencies are held accountable to accounting standards and principles established by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Its mission is to establish and improve standards of state and local governmental accounting and financial reporting that will result in useful information for users of financial reports and guide and educate the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of those financial reports.