Governmental vs Nonprofit Financial Statements

Author’s Note: This paper was prepared for BUA 301: Intermediate Financial report, fall 2013, taught by

Author’s Note: This paper was prepared for BUA 301: Intermediate Financial report, fall 2013, taught by

Professor Barbara Rowell.

Assignments:

Section 1 - Compare the Associated Catholic Charities, Inc. and affiliated organizations’ Financial Report with Bangor’s CAFR.

Section 2 - Reflect on these financial statements on a more micro level. Specifically:

1. Are there areas of concern in these financial statements? If so, what are they?

2. Are the notes to the financial statements helpful to you in your analysis to your client? If so, which notes and why do you believe they are important?

3. How do you explain the differences found in non-profit financial statements when compared to a for profit company?

4. Based on your analysis, should your clients donate?

Answers:

Section 1- Comparing Associated Catholic Charities, Inc. and affiliated organizations’ Financial Report with Bangor’s CAFR.

The first and most noticeable difference is the size of the report, specifically the number of pages. Bangor’s CAFR has 126 pages while the Associated Catholic Charities’ has only 27 pages. Both reports have a cover page followed by the table of contents. In the table of contents is found the second difference, Bangor’s CAFR list includes Letter of Transmittal, GFOA Certificate of Achievement, Organizational Chart, Elected Officials and Principal Administrative Officers in its introductory section, while Associated Catholic Charities, Inc. and Affiliated organizations’ Financial Report goes straight to the Independent auditor report followed by the financial statements. In other words, the amount of required supplementary financial information reported by Associated Catholic Charities, Inc. and Affiliated organizations’ Financial Report is less than Bangor’s. Moreover, the charities report does not have a statistical section but Bangor’s CAFR...