you will be reading portions of the 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) issued by Broward County, Florida. You will be asked to prepare "executive summaries" of the information reported. An executive summary must be written concisely so that the executive does not have to read a long document. However, the summary still must include all of the major information reported in that section of the CAFR. Your job is to make it possible for the executive to read a few paragraphs rather than multiple pages of the CAFR and yet comprehend all of the key points and critical information. This is tough to do! Think carefully before you write your summaries. Determine what information is essential for the executive to know, and then write a clear and concise summary. EACH summary must be no more than 2 single-spaced pages.
Specific Requirements
1. Read the Letter of Transmittal (pages i - iv), and prepare an executive summary of the information in the letter.
2. In the Notes to the Financial Statements, find NOTE 1- Summary of Significant Accounting Policies. Read and summarize ONLY the section titled A. Reporting Entity. Do not summarize any other portion of NOTE 1 or any other note included in the Notes to the Financial Statements.
3. Find the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section of the CAFR and read the section titled Overview of the Financial Statements. Also, go back to NOTE 1, and read the sections titled B. Basis of Presentation, Government-wide and Fund Financial Statements and C. Measurement Focus and Basis of Accounting. Prepare ONE executive summary of all this information.
4. Go back to the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section of the CAFR, and prepare an executive summary of the section titled Government-wide Financial Analysis. Note: this section includes several pages of analysis. Make sure you summarize all of the key points in this analysis.
5. Go back to the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section of the CAFR, and prepare an executive summary of the section titled Financial Analysis of the Government's Funds. Note: this section discusses governmental funds and proprietary funds. Make sure you summarize all of the key points in this analysis.