Government Accounting (710 words)

Describe governmental accounting using funds to keep records. Please choose one fund and discuss the following three things in a five-paragraph essay formatted using APA:

1. The purpose(s) of the fund
2. The typical journal entries of the fund
3. The financial statements for the fund

Introduction
A typical government budget process is comprised of five stages: forecast, request, review, adoption, and monitoring. It is borne out of a strategic planning process. The monitoring stage is an ongoing process that is formalized through accounting and financial reporting. Best practices in governmental fund accounting require that funds be established in a manner suitable for both complementary, yet distinct purposes of accounting and financial reporting. According to the Government Finance Officers Association , “Accounting is the process of assembling, analyzing, classifying, and recording financial data and necessarily requires that data be maintained a high level of detail. Financial reporting, on the other hand, is the process of providing the information thus assembled, analyzed, classified, and recorded in a practical, summarized form suitable for decision makers.” To illustrate, we refer to the City of Fort Lauderdale [Florida] Fiscal Year 2014 Adopted Budget report , focusing on the general fund and the financial reporting statements....

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