PART 1 - Submit the CAFR you will use for future weeks
This course makes use of a Comprehensive Financial Annual Report (CAFR) of your choosing. To make this course more meaningful, I suggest you pick your city, county, or state. This course is not about the Federal Government, so you should not pick that.
Submit the CAFR you will use as either a PDF file or link to tghe website.
PART 2 - Exercise 4-15: Examine the CAFR
Complete the following in Exercise 4-15:
• a. (1)
• b. (1)
• c. (1)
Download a copy of the most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for a city of your choice.
Note: many cities with 25,000 or more population provide Internet access to their CAFRs to answer.
Examine the CAFR. Utilizing the comprehensive annual financial report obtained for Exercise 1-16, follow these instructions.
A. Governmental Activities, Government-wide Level. Answer the following questions.
(1) Are governmental activities reported in a separate column from business-type activities in the two government-wide financial statements?
(2) Are assets and liabilities reported either in the relative order of their liquidity or on a classified basis on the statement of net position?
(3) Is information on expenses for governmental activities presented at least at the functional level of detail?
(4) Are program revenues segregated into
(a) charges for services,
(b) operating grants and contributions, and
(c) capital grants and contributions on the statement of activities?
B. General Fund. Answer the following questions.
(1) What statements and schedules pertaining to the General Fund are presented?
(2) What purpose is each statement and schedule intended to serve?
(3) Are any noncurrent or nonliquid assets included in the General Fund balance sheet? If so, are they offset by equal amounts classified as "nonspendable" fund balances?
(4) Are any noncurrent liabilities included in the General Fund balance sheet? If so, describe them.
(5) Are revenue classifications sufficiently detailed to be meaningful?
(6) Has the government refrained from reporting expenses rather than expenditures?
C. Special Revenue Funds. Answer the following questions.
(1) What statements and schedules pertaining to the special revenue funds are presented?
(2) Are these only combining statements, or are there also statements for individual special revenue funds?
(3) Are expenditures classified by character (i.e., current, intergovernmental, capital outlay, and debt service)?
(4) Are current expenditures further categorized at least by function?
PART 3 - Ch. 9 Exercise: Examine the CAFR
Utilize the CAFR obtained for 4-15 in Week 2.
Complete the following in Exercise 9-15:
• A
• B (1)
• C on p. 397
Examine the CAFR. Utilizing the CAFR obtained for Exercise 1-16 and your answers to the questions asked in Exercise 1-16 and the corresponding exercises in Chapters 2 through 8, comment on the following:
A. Analysis of Introductory Section. Does the report contain all of the introductory material recommended by the GASB? Is the introductory material presented in such a manner that it communicates significant information effectively-do you understand what the government is telling you? On the basis of your study of the entire report, do you think the introductory material presents the information fairly? Comment on any information in the introductory section you feel is unnecessary, and explain why.
B. Analysis of Financial Statements.
1. Do the statements, notes, and schedules in the financial section present the information required by the GASB? Are Total columns provided in the basic financial statements and schedules for the primary government and the reporting entity? If so, are the Total columns for the current year compared with Total columns for the prior year?
2. Review your answers to the questions asked in Exercises 3-15 and 4-15 in light of your study of subsequent chapters of the text and your analysis of all portions of the annual report. Based on your current knowledge and understanding of government accounting, would you change or modify any of your earlier answers? If so, explain how you would change them and why you would change them.
C. Analysis of Statistical Section. Does the statistical section present information in the five categories defined by the GASB? What tables and schedules are presented for each category? Does the information provided in each category appear to meet the purpose of the category? Explain your response.
D. Service Potential of the CAFR. In your opinion, what are the most important information needs that a governmental annual report should fulfill for each of the following:
1. Administrators.
2. Members of the legislative branch.
3. Interested residents.
4. Creditors or potential creditors.
In what ways does the CAFR you have analyzed meet the information needs you have specified for each of the four groups, assuming that members of each group make an effort to understand reports equivalent to the effort you have made? In what way does the report fail to meet the information needs of each of the four groups?