Warren Ruppel - GAAP for governments 2013: interpretation and application of generally accepted accounting principles for state and local governments

CONTENTS

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Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN: 978-1-118-36323-2 (paperback); 978-1-118-41696-9 (ebk); 978-1-118-42036-2 (ebk); 978-1-118-63594-0 (ebk)

PREFACE

Governmental accounting is a specialized area that has undergone significant changes over the past few decades. As governmental accounting standards have developed, the complexities of preparing financial statements for governmental entities have greatly increased. Providing meaningful financial information to a wide range of users is not an easy task. Adding to these challenges, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) brought sweeping changes to the governmental financial reporting model and is now continuing the process of addressing many important accounting areas related to that model.

Given this rapidly changing environment, the financial statement preparer needs a technical resource that provides more than accurate, competent technical information. The resource needs to be written to fit todays governmental accounting environment. It needs to take a fresh look at some of the long-standing accounting questions faced by governments and to provide meaningful up-to-date information on recently issued and soon-to-be-issued accounting pronouncements.

The purpose of this book is to meet these needs by providing a useful, complete, and practical guide to governmental accounting principles and financial reporting. Throughout, the book will provide the reader with

• An understanding of the concepts and theories underlying each topic discussed
• A complete, authoritative reference source to assure the reader that all aspects of a particular topic are covered
• Practical guidance to allow financial statement preparers and auditors to meet the requirements of generally accepted accounting principles for governments and to efficiently and effectively implement new requirements

The approach used in this book is to provide the reader with useful information in a usable format. Accounting theory must correspond with practical examples to be useful, because theory seldom matches the specific situation. For technical information to be usable, it must be clearly presented without clutter and unnecessary repetition. The substance of accounting requirements must also be understood in order for them to be properly applied. Understanding the reasons behind why technical requirements exist is an important ingredient in properly applying accounting standards.

The 2013 edition of this book begins with an overview of governmental accounting principles and a description of the various types of funds currently in use by governmental entities. It then describes basic financial statements and provides guidance for reporting various assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses/expenditures. Finally, it examines the accounting and financial reporting requirements for several specific types of governmental entities. The book also includes a Disclosure Checklist, which should prove very helpful in determining the completeness of a governmental entitys financial statement disclosures.