I. Title: Assistant Controller in Your Home Town

Prepare fund financial statements for a city, state or county government.

II. Introduction:

Governments have much in common with businesses; however, differences between the two environments are significant.  The use of fund accounting for city, state, or county governments is based on the specific needs of these individual entities and the users of the entities' financial information.  The standard setting board for city, state or country governments is the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB.  For information about these standards go to Governmental Accounting Standards Board.) GASB Statement No. 54 of the Government Accounting Standards Board -Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions can also be viewed through the GASB link.

In a prior learning demonstration, you created a set of financial statements that conformed to United States' Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP).  Now, you will draw upon your knowledge of governmental accounting to perform professional research and prepare the following governmental financial reports:

a. City's Fund Balance Sheet

b. City's Statement of Fund Revenues, Expenditures, and Other Changes in Fund Balances for the four city funds

Furthermore, you will demonstrate your abilities to communicate effectively and apply judgment/critical-thinking skills.

As you complete this Learning Demonstration, focus on the following items, which are tied to, and will help you to demonstrate, the following goals and competencies:

Goal 1: Communication: Learners demonstrate ability to communicate clearly both orally and in writing.

Competencies:

1.1 Organize document or presentation clearly in a manner that promotes understanding

1.2 Develop coherent paragraphs or points so that each is internally unified and so that each functions as part of the whole document or presentation

1.3 Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer's ideas

1.4 Tailor communications to the audience

1.5 Use sentence structure appropriate to the task, message and audience

1.6 Follow conventions of Standard Written English

Goal 2: Critical Thinking: Learners demonstrate ability to apply logical, systematic decision-making processes to formulate clear, defensible ideas and to draw ethical conclusions.

Competencies:

2.1 Articulate and frame the issue

2.2 Collect and evaluate information

2.3 Evaluate the underlying causes or conditions of elements contributing to an issue

2.4 Use systems thinking to arrive at a decision in the context of an issue

2.5 Apply ethical principles when determining actions.

Goal 3: Quantitative Reasoning: Learners demonstrate the ability to use mathematical operations and analytical concepts and operations to address problems and to inform decision-making

Competencies:

3.1 Construct models that represent real-world problems or processes

3.2 Develop visible representation of data

3.3 Analyze data using mathematical/algebraic operations

3.4 Use calculated results to inform the problem or process

Goal 4: Leadership, Facilitation, and Collaboration:  Learners lead, facilitate, and collaborate with a variety of individuals and diverse teams to achieve organizational objectives.     

Competency

4.1 Demonstrate an ability to plan a particular objective or goal

Goal 5:  Technical Competencies in Financial Accounting: learners demonstrate an applied understanding of professional accounting standards, transactional accounting, the closing process, financial reporting, compliance with regulatory agencies, and financial analysis.  Learners apply competencies to for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and local, state, and federal, government agencies via contextualized learning demonstrations to perform authentic professional tasks in financial accounting.

Competencies:

5.1 Professional accounting standards: learners demonstrate an applied understanding of professional accounting standards for domestic and international for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and local, state, and federal government agencies.

5.2 Measurement and reporting: learners demonstrate an applied understanding of transactional accounting associated using accounting standards relevant to for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and local, state, and federal government agencies. 

5.3 Disclosures and compliance: learners demonstrate an applied understanding of fund and financial reporting requirements to assess compliance with applicable accounting and government rules, regulations, and laws.

5.4 Analyses: learners demonstrate an applied understanding of financial analyses by performing ratio and trend analysis, benchmarking ratios against industry standards, competitors, and past performance, and comparing financial results to approved budgets. [NOTE: WE CAN ADD A FEW RATIOS OF THE STATEMENTS, OR I CAN DELETE THIS ONE SINCE IT IS COVERED IN ANOTHER LD-YOUR CHOICE?]

5.5  Communication and Decision Making: learners demonstrate an applied understanding of assisting for-profit, not-for-profit, and government  stakeholders in understanding the fund and financial analyses to facilitate more effective decision making.

Giving a memo to the City Controller:

You prepare and deliver a memo to the City Controller (professor) to identify and explain why each transaction (A through G) should be correctly recorded in each specific fund. The Controller will review the memo and return it to you with suggested changes, if needed, regarding the correct funds to use for the transactions.

III. Steps to Completion

Step 1: Refresh and update your knowledge of fund accounting using the links provided throughout this learning demonstration.

Step 2: Research the latest GASB requirements for the fund financial statements.

Step 3: Review a summary of the modified accrual basis of accounting for governmental funds.

Step 4: Decide which funds you want to use to record transactions in "A" through "G" above and prepare a memo to discuss and explain your decisions to the City Controller.

Step 5: Upon receipt of the City Controller's response with corrections, journalize transactions A through G, using correct accounting format and paying particular attention to record the journal entries in the proper funds.

Step 6: Using Appendix B, post the journal entries to the general ledger. Assume all adjusting entries have been made. All accounts have a zero "0" beginning balance because this is the first year of the city's operations. 

Step 7: Using Appendices D and E, prepare financial statements for the city using the correct financial statement formats.

Step 8: Prepare a PowerPoint presentation illustrating the process used to prepare fund financial statements. Your presentation must justify all assumptions you made and reference specific GASB principles.

The presentation should include a minimum of the following slides:

Cover slide with your name,

Summary of a modified accrual basis of accounting for governmental funds,

Process you used to complete the learning demonstration,

Research findings re: explain at least 2 new GASB standards enacted within the past 5 years,

Research findings re: explain at least 3 differences between corporate and government financial reporting,

Research findings re: summarize at least 3 differences between corporate and government disclosure requirements,

Ethical standards of public vs. private accountants

• At the completion of a financial statement analysis, a government official was told the analysis resulted in highly irregular and suspicious ratios and trends. What unique ethical issues would the government official face, that a corporate officer would not?

References

Input speaker's notes beneath each slide on your Power Point file, record a draft of your presentation, and post the recording draft in LEO for student feedback.

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar