Foundations: Why Government Accounting Is Different
- Why Governments Don’t Account Like Businesses
- The Three Standard-Setters (GASB, FASAB, FASB)
- The Real Objective of Government Financial Reporting
- What “General Purpose External Financial Reporting” Requires
- Required Statements: State/Local vs. Federal vs. Nonprofit
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning
The GASB Reporting Model & Fund Accounting
- The Three Activity Categories: Governmental, Business-Type, Fiduciary
- Government-Wide Statements vs. Fund Statements — Why Both Exist
- What a Fund Actually Is, and Why Fund Accounting Exists
- Fund Categories and Types
- Case: Mapping Cumberland County’s Actual Funds to These Categories
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning
Budgetary Accounting & Operating Statement Accounts
- Revenues and Expenses at the Government-Wide Level
- Revenues vs. Other Financing Sources; Expenditures vs. Other Financing Uses
- Budgetary Reporting
- How Budgetary Accounting Actually Works
- Encumbrances and Budget Control
- Closing Budgetary Accounts and Accounting for Allotments
- How a Public School System Classifies Its Own Revenues and Expenditures
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning
Recording Governmental Transactions & Fund Statements
- Typical Operating Transactions — Fund-Level vs. Government-Wide Entries
- General Fund Closing Entries
- Preparing Year-End General Fund Financial Statements
- Special Revenue Funds
- Interfund and Inter-Activity Transactions
- Permanent Funds
- Exchange vs. Nonexchange Transactions
- Why Interim Financial Reporting Matters
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning
- Transaction Examples
The Financial Reporting Entity
- What “The Reporting Entity” Means
- GASB’s Criteria for Including a Component Unit
- Blended vs. Discrete Presentation of Component Units
- What’s Actually Inside a Government’s Financial Reports
- Preparing and Reconciling Fund to Government-Wide Statements
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning
General Capital Assets & Capital Projects
- What Counts as a “General Capital Asset”
- Acquiring a Capital Asset
- Depreciating a Capital Asset
- Impairment
- Disposing of a Capital Asset
- Capital Projects Funds
- Recording a Capital Project — Fund Level vs. Government-Wide Level
- Case: Capital Assets and Leases in Practice
- Capitilization Thresholds
- The GASB 87 Lease Test
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning
General Long-Term Liabilities & Debt Service
- What Makes a Liability a “General Long-Term Liability”
- Note Disclosures — Debt Limits
- Note Disclosures — Debt Margin
- Note Disclosures — Overlapping Debt
- Debt Service Funds
- Recording Bond Issuance
- Recording Debt Service Payments
- Special Topics: Why Governments Issue Debt
- Statutory Debt Limits in Practice
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning
Business-Type Activities: Proprietary Funds
- Proprietary Funds — Why They Follow Business-Style Accounting
- Internal Service Fund Entries
- Internal Service Fund Reporting
- Enterprise Funds vs. Internal Service Funds
- Enterprise Fund Journal Entries
- Enterprise Fund Financial Statements
- Case: Internal Service Funds in Maine
- Case: The Cross Insurance Arena as an Enterprise Fund
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning
Fiduciary Activities: Custodial & Trust Funds
- Determining When a Fiduciary Relationship Exists (GASB 84)
- Custodial Purpose
- Custodial Reporting
- Investment Trust
- Private-Purpose Trust Funds
- Preparing Fiduciary Fund Financial Statements
- Pension Trust Funds
- OPEB Trust Funds
- Sound Investment Policy
- Case: Student Activity vs. Outside Organization Funds
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning
Financial Analysis of Government Performance
- Why Evaluate Government Financial Performance
- Financial Position, Financial Condition, and Economic Condition
- Environmental, Organizational, and Financial Factors
- Governmental Fund Ratios
- Government-Wide Ratios
- Using Benchmarks
- Case: Reading Real Trend Data
- Case: Calculating Real Ratios from Cumberland County
- Module Summary
- Module Check on Learning