Government Accounting and Reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Government Accounting and Reporting - Essay Example The major features of government reporting are the summarized plans and programs, fiscal and economic policies capsulated in facts and figures. A government wide reporting is a reporting method that brings together the three types of government activities, such as governmental, business-type and other detached units. Each entity is required to report the activity in economic terms, describing the â€Å"flow of economic resources† that measures its impact, and follows the accrual basis of accounting (Klashy and Williams, 2000). Further, the report is historical since the report is compared with previous year’s performance to identify the financial and performance position of the entity. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) of Davis School District in Utah has the same accounting reporting procedure; however, the state requires the School District to publish their report within five months of the close of each fiscal year in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, which also required to present a report of financial activities to parents, taxpayers and citizen (Roberts, 2008). Furthermore, as differentiated from regular public accounting, Roberts (2008) said that the reason of preparing separate financial statements is to â€Å"support state or federal applications and a financial statement for use in an official statement for bond issuance purposes†. The school is supported by the County through the proceeds from bonds. The CAFR report of Davis School District is divided into three segments (Roberts, 2008): 1) Introduction of the report - Illustrates the description of the report including the transmittal letter, the lists of elected board and directors, the chart of the School District organizations, the model of the School District for its education, and excellence certificate of financial reporting. 2) Financial Report Section – This section is