...GASB and FASB Analysis Paper ACC/460 The Governmental Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Boards were put in place to assist in regulating the private sector, federal, and state and local governments. These regulations that are in place are to hold he sector accountable for its accurate financial reporting and documentation. I ask how these two divisions differ in its objectives and how to they regulate each party it governs. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board oversees the federal, state, and local governments with the basis of accountability. With that the GASB holds the government accountable to the citizens it represents. This means the government entities must show its constituents the money being raised is going to exactly what it was claimed for. An example of this would be a raise in taxes to assist in making gasoline safer for the environment. The GASB has broken down this accountability into three sub-objectives, the first is interperiod equity. Interperiod equity is a means of financial reporting that determines if there is enough current year money to pay for the current year needs. It also explains whether or not individuals in need of certain governmental services were pushed to the taxpayers. The second sub-objective is budgetary and fiscal compliance meaning that this reporting explains where funds came from to take care of services needed by the citizens. The third and final us service effort costs and accomplishments...
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...and Standard Setting by the SEC, FASB, IASB, and, GASB Abstract In the accounting industry there are different organizations that have been established to design, implement, and oversee accounting standards and financial presentation processes. Such organizations include the Securities Exchange Commission, SEC, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, FASB, the International Accounting Standards Board, IASB, and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, GASB. Each of these organizations works closely with the others to attempt to provide the accounting industry with a similar, if not identical, set of accounting standards that align with those of the U.S. GAAP – Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and IFRS – International Financial Reporting Standards. The strengths and weaknesses of these organizations identify their similarities and differences and enable the organizations to continue to grow with the finance and accounting industries. In the accounting industry there are several different organizations specifically designed to set, maintain, and regulate accounting standards and financial statement presentation. Among these organizations are the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, the International Accounting Standards Board, or IASB, and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, or GASB. Each organization was established to carry out specific...
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...[pic] [pic] Table of Contents Introduction…………….…………………………………….…………………3 City of Poway- Overview………..……………………………………………...4 Part 1- Budget Analysis…………..………………………………………….....5 Budget Analysis-General Fund...………………………………………….……8 Budget Analysis- Community Services Department……..………….………...10 Part 2- CAFR Analysis……………………………………………………........13 CAFR & Budget Comparison………………………………………………….16 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..20 References……………………………………………………………………..21 Introduction In a season of major economic crisis, the municipal sector is facing financial pressures similar to that of large corporations. Many cash-strapped cities have fallen victim to the raging economic downturn. As a result, an instinctive recourse has become one of survival. As budgetary spending is put to the knife, the priority becomes: safeguard cash, cut spending, and minimize costs as much as possible. The municipal sector will collectively face a $56 billion to $83 billion budget gap through 2012, due to declining tax revenues, cuts in state services, and increased service demands, according to the National League of Cities [this is a great intro, putting the city in context; would be good to have a citation here and include the source in the references]. State and local governments face serious trouble because of the recession. A renewed focus will need to be placed towards value optimization even in the...
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...CHAPTER 1 AUDITING AND THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTING PROFESSION – INTEGRITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTING |LEARNING CHECK | 1. SEVERAL COMMON ATTRIBUTES OF ACTIVITIES DEFINED AS AUDITING ARE (A) SYSTEMATIC PROCESS, (B) OBJECTIVELY OBTAINING AND EVALUATING EVIDENCE, (C) ASSERTIONS ABOUT ECONOMIC ACTIONS AND EVENTS, (D) DEGREE OF CORRESPONDENCE, (E) ESTABLISHED CRITERIA, (F) COMMUNICATING THE RESULTS, AND (G) INTERESTED USERS. 2. A financial statement audit involves obtaining and evaluating evidence about an entity's financial statements for the purpose of expressing an opinion on whether the statements are presented fairly in conformity with established criteria--usually GAAP. Thus, the nature of the auditor's report is an opinion on the fairness of the financial statement presentation. A compliance audit involves obtaining and evaluating evidence to determine whether certain financial or operating activities of an entity conform to specified conditions, rules, or regulations. A report on a compliance audit takes the form of a summary of findings or assurance regarding degree of compliance. An operational audit involves obtaining and evaluating evidence about the efficiency and effectiveness of an entity's operating activities in relation to specified objectives. Reports on such audits include an assessment of efficiency and effectiveness and recommendations for improvements. 3. Independent auditors are individual practitioners or members of public...
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...superintendent, or school level administrator can be a difficult task when it comes to the budget aspects of any school district. Thus it is vital for any administrator or person involved in the various aspects of the budget examine the basis for budget making decisions and the key accounting principles to be followed by all school districts. These budgetary processes can be addressed with four keystone parts. In the first area of emphasis is to understand the school districts generally accepted accounting practices on which the budget is to be founded. From there it is also essential to identify the key roles of the superintendent in the budgetary process as well as the role of those sitting on the board as school board members. This paper will also examine the methods and accounting principals in place to ensure that the budget is balances as well as coordinated accurately. Finally we shall look at generally accepted timelines for a budget as well as projections for student enrollment and all necessary funding ideals that should be included. Generally Accepted Accounting Practices Regardless of the school, if there is to be a excellence in education, there is a requirement that the leaders have a vision and process for obtaining that vision (Bernhardt, 2013). The same can be said when designing a budget and working within the confines of the generally accepted accounting principles knows as GAAP. The main focus regardless of the changes that are sure to occur must be...
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...FASB due process versus IASB due process * Introduction The wave of globalization has reached the beachhead of accounting field. International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) little by little surpasses Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in dominance over accounting framework. There are more than 100 countries have adopted or have permitted to use or have been converging with International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), instead of following Generally Accepted Accounting Standards (GAAP) and Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS). For example, the United States, who requires foreign firms listed on America should compile financial statements under IFRS or SFAS, declares its specific adoption road-map for local firms. The European Union requests its member states starting to take up IFRS at 2005. When it comes to Asia, China has already announced to adopt IFRS since 2007. Over the last few decades, the fruitful areas of research have focused on the variation that arises from disparity between IFRS and GAAP. The two accounting systems have many constitutional differences, such as IFRS is principle-based standard while GAAP is ruled-based one, the former is fair value accounting while the latter is conservative. * Background of the FASB’s due process The FASB claims that, “The FASB is committed to following an open and orderly process for setting standards. It designed its comprehensive due process...
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...The City of Seattle, Washington Comprehensive Annual Financial Report For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2013 Co ompre ehens sive Annual l Finan ncial R Repor rt For the F iscal Yea F ar Ended Decem mber 31, 2013 The City Seatt y of S tle De epartment t of Financ ce and Adm ministrativ ve Services s Introduction Table of Contents Comprehensive Annual Financial Report For the Year Ended December 31, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................................................... V Organizational Chart – City ..................................................................................................................................... XI Elected Officials ...................................................................................................................................................... XII Letter of Transmittal .............................................................................................................................................. XIII Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting ...................................................................... XIX Organizational Chart – Department of Finance and Administrative Services ........................................................ XX FINANCIAL SECTION INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT State of Washington...
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...CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH Discussion Questions 1. Research in general involves the investigation and analysis of an issue in question. The researcher usually applies reasonable and reflective thinking to develop an answer to the issue or problem at hand. Research requires a clear definition of the problem, using professional databases to search the authoritative literature, reviewing and evaluating the data collected, drawing conclusions and communicating your results. 2. Accounting, auditing, or tax research involve a systematic and logical investigation of an issue or problem using the accountant’s professional judgment. Furthermore, accountants approach this problem using critical-thinking skills to obtain and document evidence underlying a conclusion relating to an issue or problem currently confronting the accountant or auditor. 3. Accounting, auditing, or tax research are necessary in order to determine the proper recording, classification, and disclosure of economic events; to determine compliance with authoritative pronouncements; or to determine the preferability of alternative accounting procedures. 4. The objective of accounting, auditing, or tax research is a systematic investigation of an issue or problem utilizing the researcher’s professional judgment to arrive at appropriate and timely conclusions regarding the issues at hand. 5. Research plays an important role within an accounting firm or department. It is critical...
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...Deanna Fletcher Regulations: AC502 Final Term Paper Kaplan University March 20, 2015 Regulations: Accountants Responsibilities Accountants have many responsibilities in different areas. They have responsibilities to clients, to thirds parties, and to the government. They have a responsibility to know the regulations, rules and laws that have been put in place for accountants. Lastly accountants have a responsibility to perform their obligations and duties by the code of conduct and to the code of ethics. We will start off with the client. The client by definition is the person who pays the professional or organization for services; the person who engages the professional for their advice or services they render. (Legal Dictionary) For these services the client must cooperate with the accountant in every aspect the accountant deems fit, within the scope of their profession. The accountants responsibilities to the client include to act with integrity, objectively, due care, competence, fully disclose any conflict of interest, maintain client confidentiality, disclose fees to client, and serve the public interest when providing financial services, (AICPA code of conduct) Accountants can also have fiduciary duties to a client if the accountant gives advice to a client involving taxes, assessing management or business consulting. Fiduciary is a legal duty to act solely in the best interest of the client. The case below involves an Atlanta-based accountant breaching his...
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...The inclusive dates for the fiscal year for the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the City of San Francisco, CA are 2010-11. The independent auditor for San Francisco’s CAFR is Macia Gini & O’Connell LLP (MGO) located at 505 14th Street in Oakland, California. The auditor states that their audit was in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those statements require the planning and performing of the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. The auditor did express unqualified opinions based on the audit and the reports of other auditors, on the respective financial statements of the governmental activities, the business-type activities, the aggregate discretely presented component units, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information. However, the financial statements of the San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco Water Enterprise, Hetch Hetchy Water and Power, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, San Francisco Wastewater Enterprise, San Francisco Market Corporation, and the Health Service System were not audited. The City of San Francisco’s organization chart contains several levels: the citizens elect a mayor and the city administrator is appointed. Also elected is the assessor/recorder, Board of Supervisors, City Attorney, District Attorney, Public Defender, Sherriff, Superior Court, and the Treasurer/Tax...
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...COUNTY OF VENTURA CAFR ANALYSIS PA615 – Public Financial Management Instructor, All Holliman California State University, San Bernardino Carrie Harmon, Scott Perkins, Dana Cano, Veronica Pinkett-Veal, Lydia Khalil, Holly Benton June 10, 2010 Contents Executive Summary 2 Cover, Table of Contents and Formatting 3 Introduction 3 Independent Auditor’s Report 5 Management’s Discussion and Analysis 6 Basic Financial Statements 6 Government-wide Financial Statements 7 Fund Financial Statements 8 Government, Proprietary, and Fiduciary Funds – Financial Statements 10 Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (SSAP) 14 Note Disclosure (other than SSAP and pension-related disclores) 19 Required Supplementary Information (RSI) 19 Combining and Individual Fund Information and Other Supplementary Information 21 Statistical Section 22 Other Considerations 23 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the County of Ventura’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report otherwise known as the CAFR. This analysis afforded the group members an opportunity to apply concepts and theories acquired through a graduate level governmental accounting course and provided the group members with a more intimate view of local government finances. The County of Ventura was selected for three primary reasons: 1) the county is located in Southern California and can easily be compared to the County of Riverside; 2) Ventura County...
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...Accounting Standards Building international opportunities for Australian business Corporate Law Economic Reform Program Proposals for Reform: Paper No. 1 © Commonwealth of Australia 1997 ISBN 0 642 26110 5 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Australian Government Publishing Service. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction rights should be directed to the Manager, Commonwealth Information Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601. The Government is seeking comments from interested parties on the detail of the proposals in this paper which should be forwarded to the following address: First Assistant Secretary Business Law Division The Treasury Parkes Place PARKES ACT 2600 Telephone: 02 6263 3960 Fax: 02 6263 2882 Email: clerp@treasury.gov.au Copies of this paper are available from the Australian Government Publishing Service and on the Treasury web site (http://www.treasury.gov.au). Enquiries concerning the paper can be made to: Ms Veronique Ingram Assistant Secretary The Treasury Telephone: 02 6263 3970 Printed by the Australian Government Publishing Service TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abbreviations PART 1: PART 2: Reform Proposals Introduction 2.1 2.2 PART 3: Background Key economic principles v 1 9 9 10 11 11 12 13 13 14 16 17 19 19 19 20 22 23 The Case for Reform 3.1 3.2 Impetus...
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...an overview chapter covering accounting users, financial reporting, GAAP, accounting organizations, the conceptual framework, accounting careers, and ethics. The topics are wide ranging and very heavy on the new terminology side of things. Although it is a good chapter for introductory purposes, the concepts and organizations covered are so extensive that it will make a good chapter to come back to later, or at the end of intermediate accounting, to review. In fact, many parts of the chapter will make more sense and come together in your mind better only after you have dealt with specific details and examples in later chapters. Focus mostly on the terminology at this point in time. Making sense of it all will be easier later on. The final section on accounting careers and ethics may make for some interesting reading, but don’t expect to be tested much on it. The conceptual framework will probably get the bulk of the examination questions, both for this class and for the CPA exam. As such, understanding Exhibit 1-5 in the textbook is very important. Learning Objectives Refer to the Review of Learning Objectives at the end of the chapter. It is crucial that this section of the chapter is second nature to you before you attempt the homework, a quiz, or exam. This important piece of the chapter serves as your CliffsNotes or “cheat sheet” to the basic concepts and principles that must be mastered. If after reading this section of the chapter you still don’t feel comfortable...
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...OFFICE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT S T A T E O F W A S H I N G T O N PERFORMANCE MEASURE GUIDE BUDGET DIVISION AUGUST 2009 Table of Contents What is a performance measure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Why do we need performance measures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 What are characteristics of good performance measures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Where do we start to develop performance measures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Are there other types of performance measures we should consider? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 How many performance measures should we have? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 How do we narrow down the list of potential performance measures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 How do we write a performance measure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 How do we set meaningful performance targets? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 What is the difference between a target and an estimate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 How do performance measures relate to OFM budget processes? . . . . . . . . . ....
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...Section 351 is an example of a negative aspect of the corporate form of business organization. 3. Which of the following statements is true? A. Formation of a partnership requires legal documentation. B. An individual engaged in the active conduct of a business must elect not to be taxed as a partnership. C. If two people (or business entities) work together to carry on any business or financial operation with the intention of making a profit and sharing that profit as co-owners, a partnership exists for federal income tax purposes. D. The partnership form of business creates double-taxation because individual partners are taxed, and the partnership is also taxed as a separate legal entity. Want to download the Final Exam answers..?? Click ACC 497 Final Exam BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND CONCEPTS Section 2: Economic Concepts Essential to Obtaining an Understanding of an Entity's Business and Industry 4. What effect would a decrease in interest rates by the Federal Reserve most likely have in the nation’s manufacturing sector, all other factors remaining constant? A. An increase in both production and employment B. A decrease in both production...
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