Section 3, Chapter 4 - Federal Financial Statements And MD&A Flashcards
What do entities use financial reports for?
To communicate important information about the entity to persons concerned with the entity
What is a reporting entity?
The entity that provides a financial report
What helps establish what is relevant to report readers?
Understanding how to establish the boundaries of reporting entity, and ensuring that the report provides information about all organizations within the reporting entity and excludes information about organizations not within the reporting entity
Excluding information about organizations the reporting entity manages or otherwise accountable for would not be complete or could be misleading
What makes deciding what organizations are to be included in the federal government consolidated financial reports challenging?
The government is generally comprised of executive, legislative, and judicial branches
However, the federal government has created organizations that operate outside of these branches with varying degrees of independence (such as the federal reserve system, federally funded research and development centers, government, sponsored enterprises, venture capital firms, and other nonprofit organizations)
What did the statement of federal financial accounting concepts (SFFAC) 2 entity and display do?
Identified the need to distinguish between consolidated entities and disclosure entities
Helped determine how to present information about organizations that are designed to be relatively independent of the federal government (example: it would be misleading to include liabilities, intended to be satisfied through the continuing operations of the independent organization, and for which the government has not accepted responsibility)
How might disclosure entities be different?
- May have separate legal identity
- Have a governance structure designed to insulate the organization from political influence
- Granted relative financial independence
What does the statement of federal financial accounting standards (SFFAS) 47, federal reporting entity, have guidance on?
- detailed guidance, regarding what organizations to include in the federal reporting entity
- How to distinguish between those that should be consolidated, and those that should be disclosed
Generally, where will organizations budgeted for, owned, or controlled by the federal government be reported?
The general purpose federal financial reports
However, a distinction will be made between those entities to be consolidated (consolidated entities) and those that need to be disclosed (disclosure entities)
What reports do reporting entities produce?
- Performance and accountability reports (PAR)
Or - Agency financial reports (AFR)
What’s the key difference between a PAR and an AFR?
PAR’s include extensive performance information while AFR do not
Each includes the summary of performance, though
What type of reports are PAR’s and AFR’s?
General purpose federal financial reports (GPFFR)
What are PAR’s and AFR’s intended to provide?
A single source of information on a federal reporting entities:
- mission and organization
- planned and actual performance
- Financial performance
- Compliance with laws and regulations related to financial management
- The most serious management and performance challenges facing the agency
What do principal financial statements provide readers?
Information about the reporting entities financial results of operations during the year and financial position at the end of year
What guidance does GAP provide accountants on?
- Classifying certain transactions and events by defining elements of the financial statements
- Recognizing transactions and events related to the defined elements
- Measuring the financial effects of transactions and events
- Disclosing information necessary to explain, or elaborate on the recognized elements
What is it meant to recognize something?
- To give expression in the books of account
- Recognition is the process of formally recording, or incorporating an item into the financial statements of an entity as an asset, liability, revenue, expense, or other element
- A recognized item is depicted in both words and numbers with the amount amount included in statement totals
What is a disclosure?
Reporting information in notes or narrative regarded as an integral part of the principal financial statements
Where are notes typically on the statements?
Traditionally, notes follow the principal statements
What do principal financial statements refer to?
Those statements, individually, and in the aggregate
Includes the notes to the financial statements, since these are considered an integral part of the statement
What are audited statements?
Those that have been examined by an independent auditor
What guidance do independent auditors use to conduct their work?
Independent auditors conduct their work in accordance with GAGAS
What type of opinion do independent auditors render?
- After applying audit procedures, under GAGAS, the independent auditor renders a report, expressing his or her opinion, regarding the fairness of presentation of the financial statements in conformity with GAAP
- Renders reports on the reporting entities internal controls, and it’s compliance with laws and regulations
How are the auditors reports presented?
In a report that accompanies the audited statements
What type of guidance does GAGAS provide?
Guidance regarding the Auditors responsibilities for required supplemental, and other accompanying information (RSI and OIA, respectively) included with the principal financial statements
How are principles financial statements generally presented?
As consolidated statements
What do consolidated statements present?
Information about the reporting entity, as if it operated as a single organization
What are intra-entity transactions?
Financial transactions between the organization within the reporting entity
How are intra-entity transactions reported when presenting consolidated financial statements for the entire reporting entity?
They are eliminated
For example, receivables on a selling funds, balance sheet would be eliminated against payables on a buying funds balance sheet, so the assets and liabilities of the entity would not be overstated
What are the principal financial statements for federal entities?
- balance sheet
- Statement of net cost
- Statement of changes in net position
- Statement of budgetary resources
- Statement of custodial activity
- Statement of insurance
- Statement of changes in social insurance
What does the balance sheet present?
- The balance sheet presents, as of a specific time resources that embody economic benefits or services the federal government controls (assets)
- presents obligations to provide assets or services to another entity at a determinable date (when a specified event occurs) or on demand (liabilities)
- The difference between assets and liabilities (net position)
What is the statement of net cost designed to do?
- present the cost of operations of a reporting entity, financed by taxpayers, for a given period
What does the statement of net cost display?
The net cost of major programs, which should relate to the strategic goals and performance plans (alternatively, the display may present the net cost for each organization within the larger agency)
What should the statement of net cost include?
- Gross program costs
- Related exchange revenues.
- The excess of costs over the exchange revenues (net program costs)
- The actuarial gains/loss on pension, other retirement, or other post employment benefits, attributable to assumption changes.
- The cost that cannot be assigned to specific programs or outputs.
- The exchange revenues that cannot be attributed to specific programs and outputs.
What does the statement of changes in net position present?
- The net results of operations for the period
- other adjustments to cumulative results of operations made during the period
- Increase/decrease in unexpended appropriations
What is the net results of operations?
The excess of financing sources over net cost of operations for the period
What do financing sources include?
- Non-exchange revenue and appropriations used
- Donations and transfers in
What makes up the net change in cumulative results of operations?
The net results of operations, and any other adjustments to accumulative results of operations, such as prior period adjustments, together are the “net changes in cumulative results of operations” for the period Period.
What is the second and last component of change in net position?
The increase or decrease in unexpended appropriations
What information does the statement of budgetary resources and related disclosures provide?
Information about how budgetary resources are made available as well as the status of those resources at the end of the period
What is the budgetary information reported on the statement of budgetary resources based on?
The budgetary accounting rules
How is budgetary information reported in the statement of budgetary resources required to be presented?
In the format prescribed for the report on budget execution and budgetary resources (SF 133)
What is the statement of budgetary resources?
An agency wide report, which aggregates account level information reported in the agencies SF 133
What does the statement of budgetary resources result in?
Budget execution information being subject to audit
Some have concluded that this has resulted in more accurate reporting on budget execution
When is the statement of custodial activity required?
It’s required for reporting entities that collect material amounts of non-exchange revenue (or other resources) on behalf of the general fund of the government, a trust fund, or other recipient agencies
When should the statement of custodial activity be presented?
When reporting entities meet requirements, the statement of custodial activity should be presented with the sources and disposition of these collections
How should entities collecting immaterial amounts of non-exchange revenues report them?
Report the amounts in their statement of changes in net position, with sources and disposition of collections disclosed in the accompanying notes
Amount reported on the statement of custodial activity are not reported as revenue by the collecting entity
What are the five federal social insurance programs?
- Social Security (old age, survivors, and disability insurance)
- Medicare (hospital insurance, Part A) and supplemental medical insurance, Part B/D)
- Railroad retirement benefits
- Black lung benefits, and unemployment insurance.
What is unique about social insurance program transactions?
Social programs blend elements of exchange and non-exchange transactions, and therefore do not completely fit traditional accounting notions of either annual governmental assistance programs (non-exchange transactions) or long-term pension programs (exchange transactions)
Because taxpayers rely on social insurance programs in their long-term planning, fundamental questions about social insurance programs include what?
- Whether they are sustainable as currently constructed.
- What their effect on the government financial condition will be
The statement of social insurance presents the actuarial present values of what?
- Future benefits.
- Contributions and taxes for social insurance programs
What three groups of participants does the statement of social insurance provide amounts for?
- Current participants eligible for benefits.
- Current participants not yet eligible for benefits
- Future participants.
Does a statement of social insurance display the net amount for all current participants and net amount for all participants?
Yes, it displays the net amount for all current participants (closed group amount amount) and net amount for all positions (open group amount)
Beginning in FY 2011 entities presenting a statement of social insurance also had to present present what?
A statement explaining the changes in social insurance net present values from one period to the next
What are the amounts attributed to in the statement of changes in social insurance?
- changes in assumptions (mortality, and birth rates)
- legislative changes ( benefit formula and tax rates)
- Interest on prior years present value
GAAP requires what type of segregation on the balance sheet?
It requires segregation of intragovernmental assets and liabilities from other assets and liabilities
Federal agencies are required by accounting standards to disclose on the face of the balance sheet or in accompanying notes assets as what?
- Entity
- Non-entity
What are entity assets?
Assets that the reporting entity has authority to use in its operations
What are non-entity assets?
Assets held by an entity that are not available to the entity
For example, income tax receivables that the Internal Revenue Service will collect, but have no authority to spend our non-entity
The department of interior explains that non-entity assets are held by the department of interior, but will not be made available to support its operations. Instead, the assets will be forwarded to treasury or other parties at a future date.
Federal agencies are required to disclose the portions of liabilities that are what?
- Funded liabilities (those covered by budgetary resources)
- Unfunded liabilities (those for which congressional action is needed before a budgetary resources can be provided)
Under GAAP for federal entities, what two major assets are excluded from the balance sheet recognition due to issues of evaluation (because FASAB has determined that relevant value is not determinable)?
Stewardship property, plant, and equipment
Stewardship land and heritage assets
How is stewardship PP&E and stewardship, land and heritage assets presented on the balance sheet?
No asset dollar amount will appear on the balance sheet or in the disclosures
Instead, GAAP requires the entities reference a note on the balance sheet that discloses information about heritage assets and stewardship land
What do the notes present about the reporting entity’s stewardship Land and Heritage assets?
Presents the reporting entities stewardship policies and explains how the heritage assets and stewardship land relate to the mission of the reporting entity
It describes a list of the major categories of stewardship land and heritage assets, and for each, specifies the physical units, added and withdrawn during the year
It also specifies the number on hand at the end of the reporting period, and describes the methods of acquisition and withdrawal
What are the components of net position?
- Unexpended appropriations
- Cumulative results of operations
They are divided into “funds from dedicated collections” and “other”