CAFR ANALYSIS RESEARCH PAPER

The deliverable for this assignment is an 8 page paper, Times New Roman font size 12, 1” margins, single-spaced including a cover sheet, a reference page, and any graphics/pictures to illustrate your writings.  It is important that this be your original thoughts and language/writing.  Do not copy large sections from a source, as a test for plagiarism will be used.  If you do include a sentence or two word for word, be sure to put it in quotes.  Provide citations for information such as facts and other information.

The objective of this activity is to be aware of what is happening in the real world that relates to governmental accounting and reporting to make the study of accounting more meaningful and to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

The paper should include: 

  • An introduction to the city (San Francisco California),
  • Graphs or charts in the body of the report to compare topics, data, statistics and anything else that you need to present to support your analysis of the data or to help the reader understand your point. Do not just say it is there; give examples of the way it is presented.
  • Analysis that should be on two levels: First, the completeness and quality of the reports in terms of meeting GASB 34 including how “user friendly” it is in your opinion and second, an analysis of the information presented, such as, where most of the money is spent, the reliability of their revenue stream, the reserves, budget vs. actual performance, etc.
  • Summarize the main points of your findings and analysis; what was presented well and anything improvements you would recommend.

Part 1 – Budget analysis

  1. In your paper, provide answers to the following questions:
  2. What major concerns are addressed in the budget document?
  3. What is the total city budget? Breakout the budget for the enterprise funds versus the general fund.
  4. What major sources of revenue are received by the city?
  5. The revenues and Expenditures budgeted for the General Fund. Determine which Department consumes the most general government resources.  For that department, answer these questions:
  6. What are the department’s goals and purpose? How does that match with what you would think the citizens expect?
  7. Are there revenues specific to the department?
  8. What are the budgeted expenditures? Provide a list of the major items.
  9. Compare the proposed budget and actual results for the most recent year.
  10. Anything else you think is significant about this department’s budget.

Part 2 – CAFR analysis

  1. Read the Transmittal Letter, MD&A, and notes. For additional reference, look for official reports or financial information such as reports to Council about the CAFR.
  2. Include in your analysis the answers to the following questions. Be sure to also conform to the guidelines for the paper overall presented in the first section of these instructions and support your opinions with references or Examples.
    1. Has the city received an award for the CAFR? If so, you don’t need to spend time analyzing conformity with GASB’s requirements.
    2. What detail is available in the MD&A and notes to the statements that would be useful to a reader (citizen, potential commercial operation, etc.).
    3. What is the financial situation for this government? Support your comments with examples from the CAFR.  Is there sufficient information to determine the financial health of the government?
    4. Is the report user-friendly; i.e., will the average citizen understand the report at even an elementary level?