What is the Difference between a budget and a CAFR?

Answer 1

A "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report" or CAFR (pronounced caffer) is the financial report of a state, municipal or other governmental entity that complies with the accounting pronouncements (government Generally Accepted Accounting Principles - GAAP) promulgated by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board(GASB) http://www.gasb.org/.

A CAFR is "compiled" by a state, municipal or other governmental accounting staff and "audited" by an external AICPA http://www.aicpa.org/ certified accounting firm utilizing GASB pronouncements. The CAFR is composed of three sections:

I. INTRODUCTORY SECTION This section provides general information on the organizational structure of State or municipal government as well as information useful in assessing the State's or municipality's financial condition. The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) http://www.gfoa.org/ has a special awards program called the "Certificate of Achievement in Financial Reporting" that recognizes properly prepared and exceptionally presented CAFRs; this award is typically a part of the Introductory Section to inform the reader that this is an exceptional document (for a CAFR). One should examine these requirements to better understand what they are and how they are applied in the evaluation. II. FINANCIAL SECTION This section is used to present the independent auditor's report on the financial statements, the management's discussion and analysis("MD&A"), the basic financial statements, other required supplementary information (i.e., pension and budgetary information), as well as combining fund statements and schedules typically portrayed as:

* Basic Financial Statements * Government-wide Financial Statements · Statement of Net Assets

· Statement of Activities C. Fund Financial Statements · Governmental Funds · Proprietary Funds · Fiduciary Funds

D. Notes to the Financial Statements

E. Required Supplementary Information Other than MD&A* RSI - Defined Benefit Pension Plans * RSI - Budgetary Reporting F. Combining Fund Statements and Schedules

* Nonmajor Governmental Funds * Nonmajor Enterprise Funds * Internal Service Funds * Fiduciary Funds * Non-Major Component Units - Discretely Presented III. STATISTICAL SECTION This section provides a broad range of trend data covering key financial indicators from the past 10 fiscal years. It also contains demographic and miscellaneous data useful in assessing the State's or municipality's financial condition. BUDGET - A "budget" is a "plan" used by state and municipal governments to prioritize its actions and activities, provide the resources for these priorities, and measure its performance against its plan. Note that a "budget" document is not audited while a CAFR is. The budget process consists of several broad principles that stem from the definition and mission of the budget process. These principles encompass many functions that cut across a governmental organization. They reflect the fact that development of a budget is a political and managerial process that also has financial and technical dimensions. The National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting (NACSLB) developed some principles that State and Local budgets should utilize. PRINCIPLE I - ESTABLISH BROAD GOALS TO GUIDE GOVERNMENT DECISION MAKING. A government should have broad goals that provide overall direction for the government and serve as a basis for decision making. This principle provides for the development of a broad set of goals that establish a general direction for the government. These goals serve as the basis for development of policies and programs, including the service types and levels that will be provided and capital asset acquisition and maintenance. Goals are developed after undertaking an assessment of community conditions and other external factors, and a review of the internal operations of the government, including its services, capital assets, and management including its services, capital assets, and management practices. Based on the assessment of current and expected future conditions, and opportunities and challenges facing the community and the government, broad goals are established that define the preferred future state of the community. Other principles address the development of strategies and allocation of resources to achieve these goals. * Element 1 - Assess Community Needs, Priorities, Challenges and Opportunities * Element 2 - Identify Opportunities and Challenges for Government Services, Capital Assets, and Management * Element 3 - Develop and Disseminate Broad Goals PRINCIPLE II - DEVELOP APPROACHES TO ACHIEVE GOALS.A government should have specific policies, plans, programs, and management strategies to define how it will achieve its long-term goals. This principle provides for the establishment of specific policies, plans, programs, and management strategies necessary for the government to achieve its long- term goals. While broad goals set the general direction of a government, it is the policies, plans, and programs that define how the government will go about accomplishing these goals. As such, the development of policies and programs must explicitly consider how they contribute to the achievement of the government's broad goals. Policy and program goals should relate, where appropriate, to broad goals. Measures should be developed to determine the progress being made by the government in achieving goals. * Element 4 - Adopt Financial Policies * Element 5 - Develop Programmatic, Operating, and Capital Policies and Plans * Element 6 - Develop Programs and Services that are Consistent with Policies and Plans * Element 7 - Develop Management Strategies PRINCIPLE III - DEVELOP A BUDGET WITH APPROACHES TO ACHIEVE GOALS. A financial plan and budget that moves toward achievement of goals, within the constraints of available resources, should be prepared and adopted. This principle provides for the preparation of a financial plan, a capital improvement plan, and budget options. Development of a long-range financial plan is essential to ensure that the programs, services, and capital assets are affordable over the long run. Through the financial planning process, decision makers are able to better understand the long- term financial implications of current and proposed policies, programs, and assumptions and decide on a course of action to achieve its goals. These strategies are reflected in the development of a capital improvement plan and options for the budget. * Element 8 - Develop a Process for Preparing and Adopting a Budget * Element 9 - Develop and Evaluate Financial Options * Element 10 - Make Choices Necessary to Adopt a Budget PRINCIPLE IV - EVALUATE PERFORMANCE AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS. Program and financial performance should be continually evaluated, and adjustments made, to encourage progress toward achieving goals. This principle identifies practices that are needed to monitor and evaluate the government's progress in meeting financial and programmatic goals identified in the budget and through its policies and plans. Based on this review, the government may need to make adjustments to the budget and to plans and policies if goals are to be achieved. The review undertaken through this principle feeds back into goal development and review processes to ensure that goals remain relevant. * Element 11 - Monitor, Measure, and Evaluate Performance * Element 12 - Make Adjustments as Needed For example, a Fiscal Year 2009 "budget" is a plan, but at the end of the Fiscal Year, the CAFR will report the financial results of the plan. Unlike the budget, the CAFR is audited.