Governmental Accounting Made Easy

Government Accounting Made Easy provides a simplified background and discussion of a broad range of governmental accounting topics. The book guides the reader in understanding how these individual topics come together to form a whole, under the new Governmental Accounting Standards Board 34 (GASB 34) financial reporting model. With the new model in place, the GASB has undertaken many new initiatives to address how many individual accounting matters are reported. The book shows how to read and analyze the financial statements of governments. The focus is on assisting non-accountants or accountants with little or no governmental accounting experience to be able to interpret what they read in governmental financial statements.

Warren Ruppel, CPA, is the author of four Wiley accounting publications, including Wiley GAAP for Governments. He is a partner in the Nonprofit and Government Services Group of Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York. He began his career at KPMG in 1979 and joined Deloitte & Touche in 1989 to specialize in audits of not-for-profit organizations and governments. Mr. Ruppel has served as the chief financial officer of an international not-for-profit organization and as the Assistant Comptroller for Accounting of The City of New York, where he was responsible for all aspects of the City's accounting and financial reporting.

Preface	p. ix
Introduction and Background	p. 1
What Are Generally Accepted Accounting Principles?	p. 1
Who Sets Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for Governments?	p. 5
Do Governments Need to Comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles?	p. 9
Why Is Governmental Accounting and Financial Reporting Different from Commercial and Not-for-Profit Accounting and Financial Reporting?	p. 10
To What Entities Do Governmental Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Apply?	p. 15
Basic Governmental Accounting Concepts	p. 19
Understanding the Different Bases of Accounting	p. 20
Understanding What Measurement Focuses Are Used by Governments	p. 26
Defining and Understanding the Nature of Assets	p. 29
Defining and Understanding the Nature of Liabilities	p. 43
Defining and Understanding the Nature of Net Assets	p. 49
Understanding Fund Accounting	p. 55
Fund Fundamentals	p. 56
Governmental Funds	p. 58
Proprietary Funds	p. 75
Fiduciary Funds	p. 82
Basics of Governmental Financial Statements	p. 89
General-Purpose Financial Statements	p. 90
Management's Discussion and Analysis	p. 90
The Basic Financial Statements	p. 94
Required Supplementary Information	p. 137
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report	p. 139
Understanding the Reporting Entity	p. 147
Background	p. 148
Accountability Focus	p. 149
Financial Reporting Entity Defined	p. 150
Display of Component Units	p. 161
Revenues from Nonexchange Transactions	p. 169
Classes of Nonexchange Transactions	p. 170
Accounting Requirements	p. 172
Property Taxes	p. 175
Income and Sales Taxes, and Other Derived Tax Revenues	p. 177
Adjustments for the Accrual Basis of Accounting	p. 180
Grants and Other Financial Assistance	p. 182
Capital Assets	p. 187
Where Are Capital Assets Recorded in the Financial Statements?	p. 188
Recording and Valuing Capital Assets	p. 189
Understanding Depreciation	p. 193
Using the Modified Approach in Lieu of Depreciating Infrastructure Assets	p. 197
The Basics of Capitalized Interest	p. 200
Capital Assets Resulting from Capital Lease Transactions	p. 206
Intangible Assets	p. 215
Impairments of Capital Assets	p. 217
Accounting for Pensions and Other Postemployment Benefits	p. 225
Requirements for Defined Benefit Pension and OPEB Plans	p. 229
Calculation of the ARC	p. 232
Parameters for Actuarial Calculations, Including the ARC	p. 233
Net Pension or OPEB Obligation	p. 242
Recording Pension- and OPEB-Related Assets, Liabilities, and Expenditures/Expenses	p. 243
Pension and OPEB Disclosures	p. 245
Employers with Defined Contribution Plans	p. 246
Sundry Accounting Topics	p. 249
Accounting for Investments	p. 249
Reporting Unrealized Gains or Losses	p. 252
Investment and Deposit Disclosures	p. 253
Compensated Absence Accruals	p. 255
Landfill Closure and Postclosure Care Costs	p. 262
Derivatives, Including Interest Rate Swaps	p. 269
Securities Lending Transactions	p. 281
Upcoming Developments in Governmental Accounting	p. 287
Pension (and OPEB) Accounting-Revisited	p. 288
Index	p. 293
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Governmental Accounting Made Easy

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