Fundamentals of Governmental Accounting and Reporting

Chapter 12Special-Purpose Governments

Learning objectives

• Recognize the reporting requirements for special-purpose governments engaged only in governmental activities.
• Recognize the reporting requirements for special-purpose governments engaged only in business-type activities.
• Recognize the reporting requirements for special-purpose governments engaged only in fiduciary activities.

Are these reports different?

How should financial statements for entities like public colleges, hospitals, housing authorities, or organizations engaged only in one program be reported? Do they have to produce both fund financial statements and government-wide statements? Do the statements have to look the same? The answers to these questions depend on different factors. This chapter will try to answer these questions.

Background

Most information in this course has focused on general-purpose governments, such as those for states, cities, counties, and towns. However, many governmental entities do not fit this category; these are referred to as special-purpose governments. These organizations are separate legal entities that may be component units of another government or stand-alone governments that do not meet the definition of a general-purpose government.

Special-purpose governments that are engaged in more than one program or that engage in both governmental and business-type activities should produce both fund financial statements and government-wide financial statements. For example, a ...