Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
Tyies Wells
ACC/548
June 27, 2010
William J. Carter III, MSA
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
The Office of Financial Management provides vital information, fiscal services and policy support that the Governor, Legislature and state agencies need to serve the people of Washington State (Investopedia, 2010). Included in this briefing, a comparison of the governmental and for-profit financial accounting will be discussed, an understanding of the government reporting and reporting entity, and an overview of the Management Discussion & Analysis report for the state of Washington. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) requires statistical evaluation, whereas for-profit accounting does not. A government budget document is a blueprint for a specific grouping of government agencies spending over the course of an annual financial period. The major differences between governments and for-profit financial accounting are they have different purposes, processes of generating revenues, stakeholders, budgetary obligations, and propensity for longevity. These differences require separate accounting and financial reporting standards in order to provide information to meet the needs of stakeholders to assess government accountability and to make political, social, and economic decisions (FASB, 2010). A reporting entity is any unit or activity that uses resources to provide goods or services. A reporting entity is an organization that is obliged to prepare general purpose financial reports (PSAB, 2010). The government uses the CAFR along with a budget document to compare the total financial standing to the general purpose annual budget with every thing else. The CAFR shows the total of all financial accounting the basic general purpose budget reports do not and should not be confused with any rainy day funds that are but one of many investment accounts included in government budgetary
Tyies Wells
ACC/548
June 27, 2010
William J. Carter III, MSA
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
The Office of Financial Management provides vital information, fiscal services and policy support that the Governor, Legislature and state agencies need to serve the people of Washington State (Investopedia, 2010). Included in this briefing, a comparison of the governmental and for-profit financial accounting will be discussed, an understanding of the government reporting and reporting entity, and an overview of the Management Discussion & Analysis report for the state of Washington. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) requires statistical evaluation, whereas for-profit accounting does not. A government budget document is a blueprint for a specific grouping of government agencies spending over the course of an annual financial period. The major differences between governments and for-profit financial accounting are they have different purposes, processes of generating revenues, stakeholders, budgetary obligations, and propensity for longevity. These differences require separate accounting and financial reporting standards in order to provide information to meet the needs of stakeholders to assess government accountability and to make political, social, and economic decisions (FASB, 2010). A reporting entity is any unit or activity that uses resources to provide goods or services. A reporting entity is an organization that is obliged to prepare general purpose financial reports (PSAB, 2010). The government uses the CAFR along with a budget document to compare the total financial standing to the general purpose annual budget with every thing else. The CAFR shows the total of all financial accounting the basic general purpose budget reports do not and should not be confused with any rainy day funds that are but one of many investment accounts included in government budgetary
References: Business Encyclopedia. (2010). Government Financial Reporting. Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/government-financial-reporting Financial Accounting Standards Board. (2010). Why Governmental Accounting and Financial Reporting is-and should be-Different. Retrieved from http://www.gasb.org/white_paper_full.pdf Investopedia Public Sector Accounting Board. (2010). About the Government Reporting Entity. Retrieved from http://www.psab-ccsp.ca/item14956.pdf Washington State Office of Financial Management