Governmental Accounting Flashcards
Has the authority to establish standards of financial reporting for all units of state and local governments–
Governmental Accounting Standards Board
Issued by GASB and set forth fundamentals on which governmental accounting and reporting will be based, but aren’t standards themsevles
GASB Concept Statments
Reporting with the objective of providing mroe complete information than can be provided bytraditional finncial statemetns and schedules–measures:
1) service effort
2) service accomplishments
3) measures that relatedto service efforts to service accomlishment
4) narrative or explantory information
Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting (SEA)–cosndiered necessary for accountability and making informed decisions
Measures how effectively and efficiently the government has been using its resources, and the rsources availble to meet its future obligations
Operational accountability
measures a government’s compliance with laws and regulations affectin its spending activities
Fiscal accountability
This approach to acouting refers to the fact that government financial statemetns show operational AND fiscal accoutnability, and the relationship between the two and requires a reconciliation b/t the government-wide and fund FS
Integrated approach
A legally separate organization for which the elected officials of a primary government are financially accountable–discretely presented or blended
Component unit
A state government, a general purpose local governemnt, or a special-purpose local government that has a separately elected governing body, is legally separte, and is fiscally indepndent of other state or local governments
Primary government
A complete annual report for a state or local government, consisting of an introductory, financial, and statistical section
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)
Provides in plain terms an overview of the government’s financial activities–with the purose of providing a comparison of the current year resutls with the results of the prior year–considered to be RSI
MD&A
Financial statements that are prepared on the economic resources measurement focus and accrual basis of accounting–includes all activities of fthe primary government (except fiduciary activieis aand discretely presented component units)
Includes:
-Statement of Net Position
-Statement of Activities
Government-wide financial statements
Activities htat are financied primarily through taxes and other nonexchange transactiosn
Governmental activities
Activities that are normally financed through user charges
Business-type activities
Part of government-wide FS that reports revenues and expenses on the full accrual basis in a consolidated statemetn (except interfund transactiosn are not eliminited)
Consoidated statement
Transactions that involve the transfer of goods or services for payment of (approx) equal value
Exchange revenues
Transactiosn in which a goivernment gives or receives value without providing equal value in return (ex. property taxes, income taxes, etc.)
Nonexchange revenues
A category on the government-wide Statemnt of Activities that incluudes events within the control of management that are either unsual in nature OR infrequent in occurrence (ex. gain on the sale of land)
Special items
A fiscal and accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts recording cash and other finaicl resources, together with all related laibities and residual equities and balances and changes hterein, which are segregated for th epurpose of carrying on specific activities or attaining certain objectives in accordance with sepcial regulations, restrictions, or limitations
Fund
Accounts for hte current financial resources reaised and expended to carry out general government purposes; includes the general fund, special revenue, debt service, capital projects, and permanent funds
Governmental funds
A governmental fund that accounts for all financial resources except those required to be accounted for in another fund
Gneral fund
Governmental fund that accounts for specific revenues that are restricted or committed to expenditures for specific current purposes other than debt service or capital projects
Special revenue funds
Governmental fund that accounts for financial resources that are restricted, committed, or assigned to expenditures for acquistiion or contstruction of capital assets
Capital projects fund
Governmental fund that accounts for resourcesthat are restricted, committed, or assigned to expenditures for the payment of general long-term debt principal and itnerest
Debt service fund
Governmental fund that accounts for resources that are restrictedto teh extent that only earnings and not principal may be used to support specified government programs
Permanent fund
Accounts for a government’s business-type activities–includes internal service funds and enterprise funds
Proprietary fund
Proprietary fund that accounts for activities that involve providing goods or services to external users for a fee
Enterprise fund
Proprietary fund that accoutns for activities that provide goods or services to toher funds of hte primary government on a cost-reimbursement basis
Internal services fund
Accounts for resources held and used bygovernments for hte benefit of individuals and entities other than the government–include agency, pension, investment and private-purose funds
Fiduciary funds
Fiduciary fund that accounts for resources held by the reporting govenrment in a purely custodial capacity
Agency fund
Fiduciary fund that reports the external portions of investment pools when the rporting government is hte trustee
Investment trust fund
Fiduciary fund that accounts for funds held in trust for hte payment of employee retiremetn and other benefits
Pension and other employee benefit trust funds
Fidcuiary fund that reports all trust arrangemetns where hte principal must remain intact and the income generated is ued to benefit individuals, private organizatiosn, and other governments
Private-purpose trust fund
A fund balance classification that includes amounts that cannot be spent because they are eitehr:
1) not in spendable form
2) legally or contractually required to be maintained intact
Nonspendable
A fund balance classification that includes amounts that cannot be used except for a specific purpose and should be reported as this when constraints placed upon the resources are either externally imposed by creditors, etc. or imposed by law
Restricted
A fund balance classification that includes amounts that can only be used for specific purposes pursuant to constraints impsed by formal action of the government’s highest level of decision-making authority
Committed
A fund balance classifcation that includes amounts that are cosntrained by the government’s INTENT to be used fro specific purposes but are neither estricted not committed
–intent must have been expressed by someone with the authority to do so
Assigned
A fund balance classfication that includes anything that has not been assigned, restricted, or committed
Unassigned
The objective of this measurement focus and basis of accounting is to easure all of hte eeconomic resources available to the governmental entity, includingfixed assets, and subtracting long-term debt and recognized reveneus when earned and expenses when incurred
Economic resources measurement focus and accrual basis of acccounting
The measurement focus and basis of accounting used in governmental fund financial statemetns in which revenues are recognized when measureableand availble to finance expendibtures of hte current period
Current financial resources measrement focus and modified accrual basis of accounting
A nonexchange transactioon that results from taxes asssessed by governments on exchange transactions (ex. sales taxes, income taxes, moter fuel taxes)–receivables/revenues recognized wehn underlying transaction takes place
Derived tax revenues
A nonexchange trnasaction that is taxes and other assessments by governments that are not derived from underlying transactions (ex. property taxes, special assessments, fines)–revs recognized in the period when the taxes were levied
Imposed nonexchange transactions
A nonexchange transaction that exists when the providing government (state/federal) requires the receiving government to expend funds for a specific purpose–receiving govenrments should recognize assets and revenues when all eligibitliy requirements have been met
Government-mandated nonexchange transaction
A nonexchange transaction that includes grants and entitlements from one government to naother where the provding government does not impose specific requirements upon the receiving government–recognize when all eligibility requirements have been met
Voluntary nonexchange transactions
Only intangible assets that qualify as this may be recognized as capital assets in the statemetn of net position
Identifiable
A method used to evaluate the effectiveness of hedge by qualitatively evaluating the terms of the hedgable item and the potential hedging derviative instruemtn–if critical terms are similary, considred to be effective
Consisent critical terms method
A method used to evalue the effectiveness of a hedge that combines the cash flow effects fo the hedgeable item with the potential hedging derivative instruemetn to see if they offset
Synthetic instrument method
A method used to evaluate the effectiveness of a hedge by comparing changes in the fair vlaue of the hedgeable item with the potential hedgin derivative
Dollar-offset method
A method used to evaluate the effectiveness of a hedge by examining the statistical relationship between the hedgeable item and potential heding derivative instrument
Regression analysis method
An agreement between a government unit and an operator in which the government conveys to the operator hte right and obligation to provide public services ithrough the operations of a facility in exchange for consideration–fascility should be included on government’s books as an asset
Service concession arrangement
a specific local tax levied on private property to meet the cost of a public improvement that will result in an increase in the value of the property—ex. for street lighting or public sidewalk
Special assessment
A multiple-employer defined benefit pension plan in which pension plan assets are pooled for investment purposes but separate accounts are maintained for each individual employer so that each employer’s share of the pooled assets is legally available to pay the benefits of only its employees
Agent multiple-employer defined benefit pension plan (agent pension plan)
A multiple-employer defined benefit pension plan in whicht he pension obligatiosn to he employeees of more than one emmployer are pooled and pension plan assets canbe used to pay the benefits of the employees of any employer that provides pensions through the pension plan–funds usually computed on a state-wide basis only
Cost-shari9ng multiple meployer defined benefit pension plan (cost-sharing pension plan)
Early retirement incentives that a government provides to its employees that should be accrued and recognized as a liability/expense when the offer has been accepted by the mployees and the amount of laiility can be estimated
Voluntary termination benefits
Early retirement benefits, such as severance pay, that should only be recognized when the plan has been approved and communicated to the mployees and the amount of liability can be estimated
Involuntary termination benefits
A private purpose trust fund will be classified as this if the principal cannot be expended but income may be for some agreed-upon purpose; sometimes called an endowment
Nonexpendable
Propety taken over by a government, usually state government, when the property is abandoned and the legal owners cannot be found–generally recorded in the governmental or properitary fund to which it ultimately goes
Escheat property
Transactions made between funds in which one fund provides resources with a requirement for repayment (“due from” due to)
interfund loans and advances
Nonreciprocal transfers between funds, where payment is not expected
Interfund transfers
A non reciptrocal transfer between funds that is a repayment for expenditures/expenses to the fund that initially paid for them
Interfund reimbursements
