During the semester Week 3, 5 and 7 you be asked question on a CAFR you have

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Question:

During the semester Week 3, 5 and 7 you be asked question on a CAFR you have been supplied for the City of Austin. The questions are provided now in order for you to have the time to prepare-it’s advised you prepare these answers each week.

Week 3 Questions

1. What are three main sections of the report?

2. Review the introductory section of the CAFR.

a. Was the entity’s annual report of the previous year awarded a ‘‘certi?cate of achievement for excellence in ?nancial reporting’’ by the Government Finance Of?cers Association? What is the signi?cance of this award?

b. What are the key issues addressed in the letter of transmittal?

3. Review the ?nancial section.

a. Which, if any, independent audit ?rm performed an audit of the CAFR?

b. Did the entity receive an ‘‘unquali?ed’’ audit opinion? If not, why not?

c. Does the report contain management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A)? If so, what are the key issues addressed?

d. Does the report provide a reconciliation between total governmental net position per the government wide statement of net position and total governmental fund balances per the governmental funds balance sheet? If so, what are the main reconciling items?

e. What are the major governmental funds maintained by the entity? Does the entity’s fund structure conform to its organizational structure?

f. Does the report include ‘‘required supplementary information’’? If so, what are the main areas addressed?

g. Does the report include ‘‘combining statements’’? If so, what is the nature of these statements?

h. Does the report include other supplemental information? If so, what types of information are in this section of the report?

4. Review the statistical section.

a. What is the population of the entity being reported on?

b. Who is the entity’s major employer?

c. What types of information are included in the statistical section?

5. In which section of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) are the budget-to-actual comparisons of the major funds?

a. Which accounting basis did the City follow to prepare its annual operating budget?

b. Are the actual amounts on a GAAP or a budgetary basis? Do the statements include a reconciliation of any differences between GAAP and budgetary amounts? If so, what are the largest reconciled items?

c. Are the reported variances based on the original budget or the year-end amended budget?

6. Does the CAFR include budget-to-actual comparisons of no major funds? If so, in what section?

Week 5 questions

1. What are the main sources of the government’s revenues, including those from both governmental and business-type activities?

2. How are revenues from property taxes accounted for, i.e., as a single amount, or in multiple categories? Identify the various categories and indicate the percentage breakdown. (e.g., residential property taxes are 50 percent of the total property tax revenues.)

3. What is the government’s property tax rate?

4. How does the government classify its governmental expenditures, by function or by ‘‘object’’? Are the classi?cations approximately the same in both the

Government-wide and the fund statements?

5. What was the city’s largest expenditure for ?scal year 2011? By how much did this increase or decrease since FY 2010? Since FY 2005 (see statistical section)? Can you draw any inferences from this comparison as to the ef?ciency and effectiveness of the city in providing this service? If not, what other information would you need to make such a judgment?

6 Select one of the more recently established (and larger) capital projects funds (a major fund, if there is one).

a. From where did the fund receive most of its resources?

b. Did the city acquire or construct new capital assets using resources of this fund? If so, in what amount?

c. Does this fund have any long-term debts associated with it? If so, does the government maintain a debt service fund to account for the resources to service the debt?

7. What are the principal classes of capital assets associated with governmental activities that the City reports in its ?nancial statements?

8. How much depreciation did the government charge in its government-wide statements on capital assets used in governmental activities?