BUDGET AND FISCAL POLICY (REVISED) - 4-2017

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EXHIBIT 3 Government Finance Officers Association n Ir • �. BACKGROUND: In the context of financial reporting, the term fund balance is used to describe the net position of governmental funds calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Budget professionals commonly use this same term to describe the net position of governmental funds calculated on a government's budgetary basis,' While In both cases fund balance is intended to serve as a measure of the financial resources available in a governmental fund; It Is essential that differences between GAAP fund balance and budgetary fund balance be fully appreciated. 1. GAAP financial statements report up to five separate categories of fund balance based on the type and source of constraints placed on how resources can be spent (presented in descending order from most constraining to least constraining): nonspendable fund balance, restricted fund balance, committed fund balance, assigned fund balance, and unassigned fund balance.' The total of the amounts in these last three categories (where the only constraint on spending, if any, is imposed by the government Itself) is termed unrestricted fund balance. In contrast, budgetary fund balance, while it is subject to the same constraints on spending as GAAP fund balance, typically represents simply the total amount accumulatad from prior years at a point in time. 2. The calculation of GAAP fund balance and budgetary fund balance sometimes is complicated by the use of sub -funds within the general fund. In such cases, GAAP fund balance includes amounts from all of the subfunds, whereas budgetary fund balance typically does not. 3. Often the timing of the recognition of revenues and expenditures is different for purposes of GAAP financial reporting and budgeting. For example, encumbrances arising from purchase orders often are recognized as expenditures for budgetary purposes, but never for the preparation of GAAP financial statements. The effect of these and other differences on the amounts reported as GAAP fund balance and budgetary fund balance In the general fund should be clarified, understood, and documented. It is essential that governments maintain adequate levels of fund balance to mitigate current and future risks (e.g., revenue shortfalls and unanticipated expenditures) and to ensure stable tax rates. In most cases, discussions of fund balance will properly focus on a government's general fund. Nonetheless, financial resources available in other funds should also be considered in assessing the adequacy of unrestricted fund balance in the general fund. RECOPIIMENOATION: GFOA recommends that governments establish a formal policy on the level of unrestricted fund balance that should be maintained in the general fund for GAAP and budgetary purposes.' Such a 65C -11