Saturday, October 22, 2011

Coming Soon : Taxing and Spending - How Did We Do?

Ah fall, you have arrived, with your football rivalries, the NC State Fair, Morrisville's Spooktacular Trail Walk , a change in offerings at the Western Wake Farmer's Market . Oh, and publication of our town's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Wait, wait, don't yawn yet even if everything you needed to know about a CAFR you learned from Wikipedia:


A Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) is a set of government financial statements comprising the financial report of a state, municipal or other governmental entity that complies with the accounting requirements—generally accepted accounting principles GAAP—promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards (FASB).



A CAFR is "compiled" by a state, municipal or other governmental accounting staff and "audited" by an external American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) certified accounting firm utilizing FASB requirements. It is composed of three sections: Introductory, Financial and Statistical. It combines the financial information of fund accounting and Enterprise Authorities accounting.


Now wait. No, this isn't FL vs GA (State vs Carolina?) or fried anything. But it is important information. The CAFR provides a much anticipated comparison between Morrisville's adopted budget and our actual revenues and expenses. It answers the question: How much money did the Town take in and how much of it did we spend?

Your Town Council and staff will explore that question on Tuesday. Stay tuned.