Permanent fund

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In the United States, a permanent fund is one of the five fund types established by GAAP classified as a government fund. It was first introduced through GASB Statement 34. The name of the fund comes from the purpose of the fund. 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 being used to pay for accounting services for a perpetual endowment of a government-run cemetery or financial endowments towards a government-run library.

A common misconception is that permanent funds are required for special-purpose governments 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.