Donna Collins
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Transcript of Donna Collins
- 1. Getting Prepared to Prepare Your Own Financial Statements Presented by Donna Collins Milestone Professional Services
2. Why are we even talking about this?
- Internal Control
- Independence
? 3. Technical Guidance Issued
- Statement on Auditing Standard (SAS) No. 112 (Communication of Internal Control Related Matters Identified in an Audit)
- Ethics Interpretation 101-3 (Performance of Nonattest Services)
4. SAS 112 Major Provisions
- Defines significant deficiencies and material weaknesses
- Provides guidance on evaluating control deficiencies
- Requires written communication to management
- Effective for periods ending on or after 12/15/06
5. Significant Deficiency
- control deficiency
- adversely affects ability to initiate, authorize, record, process or report financial data reliably in accordance with GAAP
- more than remote likelihood that misstatement of financial statements that is more than inconsequential
- will not be prevented or detected
6. Material Weakness
- a significant deficiency or combination of significant deficiencies
- results in more than remote likelihood that material misstatement of financials will not be prevented or detected
7. The Bottom Line
- Many governmentsmayhave a material weakness in internal control due to lack of internal controls over the preparation of their financial statements.
8. The complicating impact of Independence Standards
- Auditors must be independent to issue an opinion on financial statements
- Material weakness in internal control over financial reporting creates independence issues under Ethics Interpretation 101-3
- Auditors may not be able to opine on governments financials
9. What are my options?
- Have auditors prepare financials
- Hire an outside firm to prepare financials
- Prepare financial statements ourselves
- Hybrid of the above
10. Have the Auditors prepare
- The auditors can prepare financials if they meet certain guidelines governing their independence.
- There are issues I may want to consider even if my auditors can meet the over arching principles.
11. Other Factors to Consider
- Public perception
- Analytical advantage of preparing your own financial statements
- Cost factors
12. Hire an outside firm
- My choices include: another audit firm, a consulting firm, or an individual that works for the government on a contractual basis
- Cost is still a factor
- Availability to meet our entitys deadlines should be a consideration
13. Prepare the financial statements ourselves
- Consider the time involved
- Evaluate whether our entity has the technical expertise required
- What is the availability of my auditors to comply with my timetable
14. Use a Hybrid of the above
- Prepare my own financial statements with as needed assistance
- Prepare my own financial statements but hire a firm to perform a technical review (for adequacy of disclosure and correctness of implementation of new standards)
15. Preparing my own financial statements Where do I start?
- Things to Remember
- Things to Plan for
- Things to Gather
- Things to Coordinate
16. Things to Remember
- They are your financial statements
- Dont be afraid to ask for help (but do it early)
- Leave an audit trail (know what documentation the auditor will require)
17. Things to Plan for
- Financial Statement Format
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- Annual Financial Statements versus CAFR
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- Participation in the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting program
- Political Environment
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- Others that should be included in the process
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- Major fund determination issues
18. Things to Plan for ( continued )
- Clean starting point
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- Distinct cut-off for accounts payables
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- Inclusion of all journal entries necessary for closing the year
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- Posting of all accruals and estimates
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- Recording of any audit entries
19. Things to Plan for ( continued )
- Realistic timetable for financial statement preparation
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- Include specific tasks
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- Clearly identify individuals responsible for each task
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- Identify an expected completion date
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- Incorporate deadlines for Auditor General, grantor agencies, etc.
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- Remember that many things can be done before year-end
20. Things to Plan for ( continued )
- List of tasks that can be accomplished prior to year-end
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- Develop a template for your financial statements
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- Draft footnote wording for new pronouncements
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- Draft descriptions for new funds
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- Design cover and dividers and go ahead and order them
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- Begin gathering statistical information
21. Things to Plan for ( continued )
- Open communication throughout entity and with third parties regarding:
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- Budget schedules
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- Grant information (if single audit is applicable)
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- Component Unit information
22. Things to Plan for ( continued )
- Communication issues (continued)
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- Constitutional Officer Statements roll in and information needed for footnotes (counties)
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- Long-term debt (compensated absences and capital leases)
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- Capital Assets
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- Retirement Contributions
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- Information for Statistical Section (CAFRs)
23. Things to Gather
- Technical Resources
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- Blue Book (GAAFR 2004 or later)
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- Codification of GASB pronouncements
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- New GASBs not yet in codification
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- Implementation Guides
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- AICPA Accounting and Reporting Guides
- Copy of prior year financials (and those of other governments for reference)
24. Things to Gather ( continued )
- Disclosure Checklist
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- GFOA checklists if applying for the Certificate program
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- Others such as PPC (ask auditors)
- Original and Final Amended Budget
- Prior year GFOA comments and auditor comments (if applicable)
25. Things to Coordinate
- Actuarial reports (pensions, post-employment benefits, etc.)
- Arbitrage rebate calculations (if applicable)
- Landfill estimates from engineers (if applicable)
- Timetable with auditors
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- For audit wrap-up (no more adjustments)
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- Financial statement review (auditor comments)
26. The nitty gritty of financial statement preparation
- Developing your template
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- Dont forget to add any new funds and delete funds that have been closed
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- Determine your major funds
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- Use prior year as starting point (remember to check at completion)
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27. Calculation of major funds
- Total assets, liabilities, revenues, or expenditures/expenses must equal 10% of corresponding total for funds of that category (governmental or enterprise) AND
- Total assets, liabilities, revenues, or expenditures/expenses must be at least 5% of total for all governmental and enterprise funds combined.
28. Developing your template ( continued )
- Determine your major funds (continued)
- Calculation reminders
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- Do not include other financing sources and uses
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- Use governmental and enterprise funds only in total no internal service or fiduciary funds
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- You can remove interfund and advances
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- Guidance is found at paragraph 75 and 76 of GASB 34, 2005 GAAFR page 177, etc.
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- Templates available
29. Developing your template ( continued )
- Determine your major funds (continued)
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- General fund always a major fund
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- Internal Service funds are never major
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- Consider other factors
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- Political constraints
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- Funds that require opinion specifically
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- Funds important due to public interest or consistency of presentation
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30. Developing your template ( continued )
- Format issues should be decided early
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- Font
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- Page layouts including indentions and capitalization
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- Underlines, dollar signs and continued
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- Proper titles for statements and schedules
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- Consistency of phrasing (ie. Interest income versus investment income)
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- Classification of line items (classified or liquidity order)
31. Developing your template ( continued )
- Linking documents is efficient
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- Consider the impact of multiple users
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- Most common documents to link include
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- Combining statements to budget schedules
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- Combining statement totals to fund level statements in the basic financial statements
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- MD&A, notes and statistical sections to basic financial statements (excel spreadsheets to word documents)
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32. Linking examples - MD&A
- Net Assets
- Changes in Net Assets
- Expenses and Program Revenues
- Revenues by Source
- Capital Assets
- Bonds and Notes
33. Linking examples Statistical Section
- Link all tables that have information that comes from the Basic Financial Statements
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- Net Assets by Component
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- Changes in Net Assets
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- Fund Balances of Governmental Funds
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- Changes in Fund Balance of Governmental Funds
34. Developing your template ( continued )
- Make sure beginning net asset and fund balance numbers agree to the prior year issued financial statements
- DONT USE PENNIES!
- Consider rounding to thousands for larger entities but be consistent throughout the document
35. Populating your template
- Consider starting with the combining statements in the back and moving forward
- Budget to actual schedules can be linked to the combining schedules already input
- Use total columns to verify that established links are bringing correct information forward
36. Populating your template ( continued ) Combining Statements
- Begin with trial balance for each fund that is grouped in accordance with the State Chart of Accounts
- Consider your source documents because the auditors will have to verify your groupings
- Remember that major funds will have to be pulled out of any grouped reports for inclusion in the basic financial statements
37. Populating the Combining Statements ( continued )
- Some items should not be grouped via the State Chart of Accounts
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- Examples:
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- Interfund transfer activity in internal service funds becomes recharacterized as revenue/expense
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- Unamortized bond costs are assets but should be netted with the corresponding liability
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- Negative cash balances should be classified as a liability
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38. Populating the Combining Statements ( continued )
- Remember to add any blended component units (often reflected as special revenue funds)
- For counties, constitutional officers need to be incorporated into combining statements
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- Special revenue funds
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- Agency funds
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- General fund usually rolls into general fund for the Board
39. Populating your template ( continued ) Budget Presentations
- When are budget schedule versus budget statements appropriate?
- What makes a budget presentation a schedule?
- When do I include both original and final budget numbers?
- Do I include budget information for all funds?
40. Populating your template ( continued ) Budget Presentations
- Budget Statements
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- Included in Basic Financial Statements
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- Auditors opinion includes these statements
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- Presented for general fund and major special revenue funds only
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- Includes original and final budget
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- Other non-major funds have budget presentation in Other Supplemental Information section with final budget only
41. Populating your template ( continued ) Budget Presentations
- Budget Schedules
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- Presented outside the Basic Financial Statements
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- Auditors opinion is in relation to
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- Presentation most often used
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- General fund and all major special revenue funds included in RSI with both original and final budget
42. Populating your template ( continued ) Budget Presentations
- Budget Schedules (continued)
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- Other major governmental funds (debt service and capital projects funds) and non major governmental funds included in Other Supplemental Information with final budget only
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- Presentation is only included if legally binding budget is adopted
43. Populating your template ( continued ) Budget Presentations
- Helpful Hints
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- Link where appropriate to combining or fund level statements
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- Coordinate with budget department
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- Proprietary funds do not report budgetary comparisons
44. Populating your template ( continued ) Budget Presentations
- Helpful Hints (continued)
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- Presentation should be at the legal level of control
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- Variance column should have neutral terminology (over/under not favorable/unfavorable)
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- If included in RSI, add footnote to indicate if prepared on GAAP basis
45. Populating your template ( continued ) Basic financial Statements
- Basic Financial Statements include:
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- Government-wide financial statements
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- Fund Level statements
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- Footnotes
46. Populating your template ( continued ) Fund Level Statements
- Governmental
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- All major funds shown in individual columns
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- Non major funds grouped into one aggregate column that should agree to combining statement
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- Total column for governmental funds included
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- Fund balance must agree between Balance Sheet and Statement of Revenues, Expenditures and Changes in Fund Balance
47. Populating your template ( continued ) Fund Level Statements
- Proprietary
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- All major funds shown in individual column
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- Non major funds grouped into one aggregate column that should agree to combining statement
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- Total column for proprietary funds included
48. Populating your template ( continued ) Fund Level Statements
- Proprietary (continued)
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- Net assets must agree between Statement of Net Assets and Statement of Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Net Assets
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- Statement of Activities is divided into operating (charges for services and direct expenses) and non-operating revenues/expenses (grants, interest income and expense, gain/loss on capital assets)
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- Statement of Cash Flows is required
49. Populating your template ( continued ) Fund Level Statements
- Statement of Cash Flow issues
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- Separated into four distinct sections
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- Common mistakes
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- Failure to back out fixed asset transactions from account payable change in balance
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- Misclassification of grants operating versus capital
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- Reporting transaction as net rather than gross
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- Non-cash transaction
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- Contributed capital
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- Change in fair value of investment
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50. Populating your template ( continued ) Fund Level Statements
- Other reminders
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- Fiduciary funds will have Statement of Net Assets and Statement of Changes in Net Assets (except for Agency funds)
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- Component units may also have Statement of Net Assets and Statement of Activities in Fund Level presentation
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- Insurance recoveries are shown as Other Financing Sources
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- Negative net investment activity is shown as a negative revenue
51. Populating your template ( continued ) Basic Financial Statements
- Fund Balance Reservations and Net Asset Restrictions
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- Fund Balance reservations
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- Prepaid balances
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- Inventory balances
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- Debt Services
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- Building department resources unexpended
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- Encumbrances
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52. Populating your template ( continued ) Basic Financial Statements
- Fund Balance Reservations and Net Asset Restrictions (continued)
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- Net Asset Restrictions follow GASB 46
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- Must be legally enforceable due to statue or ordinance
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- Examples:
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- Some grant funds
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- Federal and State Police Forfeiture Fund
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53. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Set up a conversion spreadsheet that begins with the governmental fund financial statements and reflects all adjustments necessary to arrive at the Statement of Net Assets and Statement of Activities
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- Can be separate spreadsheet linked to source and destination documents
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- Can be notations on the side of the governmental fund statements
54. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Note that many reconciling items between the fund level and government-wide statements affect both the Statement of Net Assets and the Statement of Activities
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- Most common examples are
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- capital assets and long-term liabilities
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- Interfund activity is eliminated so that only internal balances remain
55. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Interfund activity can result in out of balance position at fund level statements that is resolved only at the government-wide level
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- Transfer of capital assets from enterprise fund to governmental fund
- Remember that interfund activity between agency funds and governmental and business-type funds must be reclassified
56. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Indirect costs are removed from functional expense in the government-wide statements
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- Except for general government activities
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- Indirect cost allocations are reversed for government-wide reporting
57. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Internal service funds can be combined with governmental activities or business-type activities
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- It is generally safe to assume consolidation with government activities
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- If service is provided solely to enterprise funds, then group with business-type activities
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- If service is provided to both government and business-type activities, consolidate with predominant customer of services ( cannot split between activities)
58. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Conversion spreadsheet example separate spreadsheet
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- Begins with governmental balances
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- Reflects column for each type of adjustment showing both impact on Statement of Net Assets and Statement of Activities
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- Final column can be linked directly into the Government-wide statements
59. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Conversion spreadsheet example directly on governmental statements
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- All significant adjustments from governmental fund statements to arrive at government-wide statements are included in properly labeled calculations outside the print area
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- Disadvantage is that it is more difficult to see impact on both top level statements of each type of reconciling item
60. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Statement of Net Assets
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- Includes column for governmental activities, business-type activities, a total column and then an aggregated column for all component units no matter what type of fund
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- Conversion from fund level statements generally involves:capital assets, long-term liabilities, internal service fund net assets and the impact of deferred revenue transactions
61. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Statement of Activities
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- Separately reflects activities of the primary government (including governmental activities and business-type activities) from those of component units
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- Expenses by function or activity are shown first
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- Program revenues are reflected next to arrive at a net revenue (expense) from each function or activity
62. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Statement of Activities (continued)
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- General revenues are shown separate from program expenses and revenues
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- Transfers are then added to general revenues to arrive at subtotal
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- After adding beginning net assets, the end result should be net assets per the Statement of Net Assets
63. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Statement of Activities (continued)
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- Conversion from fund level statements generally involves: capital purchases, long-term liability activity, internal service fund change in net assets, and the impact of grant revenues or other deferred revenue items.
64. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Statement of Activities (continued)
- General revenues versus program revenues?
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- Operating special assessments are charges for services while capital special assessments are capital contributions
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- All taxes are general revenues
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- Charges for services reported as program revenue of function which generated the revenue rather than where it will be spent
65. Populating your template ( continued ) Government-wide statements
- Statement of Activities (continued)
- General revenues versus program revenues?
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- Grant contributions that can be used for both capital or operating purposes should be classified as operating grants and contributions
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- Pass through grants used to finance capital acquisitions should be treated as operating grants and contributions by the primary recipient
66. Populating your template ( continued ) Footnotes
- Much of the information needed is already in audit schedules that have been prepared.
- Use the prior year as a starting point but consider:
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- Changes in major funds
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- Changes in governmental policies
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- New pronouncements
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- Subsequent events such as debt issuance, capital leases or legal settlements
67. Populating your template ( continued ) Footnotes
- Most common challenges
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- Amounts that dont agree to the face of the financial statements
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- Exclusion of constitutional officer information (counties)
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- Missing or insufficient note disclosures especially in the area of pensions
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- Inclusion of negative disclosure
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- Distinction of major versus non-major not present
68. Populating your template ( continued ) Supplementary information
- Required supplementary information
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- Managements Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) comes before the basic financial statements
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- Must be consistent with information in financial statements, notes and statistical section
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- Include only allowable information
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- Many tables can be linked to financial statements
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- Must provide comparative data
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- Budget comparisons (if not already in the Basic Financial Statements)
69. Populating your template ( continued ) Supplementary Information
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- Trend data on funding of pension and Other post employment benefits in certain circumstances
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- Trend data on infrastructure condition if using the modified approach
70. Populating your template ( continued ) Statistical Section ( CAFRS only )
- GASB 44 is the source of technical guidance
- Templates are available from those who have implemented
- A narrative explaining the schedules in this section is required
- Dont forget to indicate the source of the information
71. Populating your template ( continued ) Other Introductory Section Items
- Most of these items can be prepared early
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- Cover page
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- List of officials*
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- Table of contents
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- Transmittal letter*
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- Organizational chart*
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- Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting* from prior year
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- * Required for CAFRs only
72. Reviewing your financial statements
- Basics of financial statement review
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- Consistency throughout document
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- Financial amounts
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- Descriptions
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- Format presentations
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- Information flows and is logical in format
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- Presentation is easy to read and understand
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- Document is technically complete with all required sections and disclosures
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- Relationships within the document make sense
73. Reviewing your financial statements ( continued )
- Consistency throughout document
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- Individual schedules to combining
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- Combining to combined
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- Combined to basic financial statements
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- Footnotes to basic financial statements
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- MD&A to basic financial statements
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- Statistical section to statements, notes and MD&A
74. Reviewing your financial statements ( continued )
- Information flows and is logical in format
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- Note one incorporates the governments significant accounting principles
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- Certain items are required use disclosure checklist to make sure required elements are present
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- Order generally follows account presentation in statements
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- Information generally follows the order in the statements
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- After note one, cash and deposits are generally next followed by investments..
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75. Reviewing your financial statements ( continued )
- Presentation is easy to read and understand
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- Add totals that tie to the face of the financial statements (where appropriate)
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- Check for correct grammar and punctuation
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- Consider the readers of your financial statements
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- Standard is a person with knowledge
76. Reviewing your financial statements ( continued )
- Document is technically complete with all required sections and disclosures
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- Utilize the information gathered during the planning stage
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- Ensure new standards are addressed
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- Complete a disclosure checklist
77. Reviewing your financial statements ( continued )
- Relationships within the document make sense
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- Perform top level analytic to see if the change from the prior year reflects what really happened
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- Do the capital asset numbers on the reconciliations for the government-wide statements supported by additions per the capital asset footnote
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- For proprietary fund level statements, are there restricted assets identified that are at least equal to liabilities payable from restricted assets
78. Reviewing your financial statements ( continued )
- Problem areas
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- Dollar differences (DONT INPUT PENNIES)
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- GFOA prior year comments not addressed
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- Different terminology for same item (funds, line items, etc.)
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- New requirements not met
79. Reviewing your financial statements ( continued )
- Tools available
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- Disclosure checklists (GFOA, PPC, etc.)
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- Other financials from similar entities
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- Auditors
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- GAAFR examples
80. Wrapping up the process
- Send your financial statements to:
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- Auditor General within 12 months of year end
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- Copy is filed with Annual Financial Report to the Department of Financial Services
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- Grantor agencies may required copy and the Federal Clearing House if single audit is applicable
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- Lendors
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- Others involved in interlocal agreements with our government
81. Wrapping up the process ( continued )
- Clean up documentation immediately!