Cafr Report

Comprehensive Annual Financial Report

Jackson, MS

Shani A. Walker

ACC 381-01

March 31, 2015

The purpose of this financial analysis is to apply concepts of government accounting and reporting through the examination of financial statements. I have chosen the city of Jackson, Mississippi because understanding the financial position of this entity will provide a clearer picture of the city I spend a majority of the year residing in. The way the city handles its money directly affects my education as a student at Jackson State University. The city of Jackson, Mississippi has two component units: The Jackson Redevelopment Authority (JRA), and the Capital City Convention Center Commission (Department of Administration, 2013). A component unit is any other organization that has a close relationship with a primary government. Exclusion of component units from financial statements would be extremely misleading due to the financial integration with the government (Carr, Riggs, & Ingram, 2015).

Jackson, Mississippi was founded in 1821 at the site of a trading post on the west bank of the Pearl River. The trading post was operated by Louis LeFleur, a French-Canadian trader, who originally named the town LeFleur’s Bluff. Due to the location having “beautiful surroundings, good water, and nearness to the Natchez Trace, it was authorized to be the permanent seat of government on November 28, 1821. The name Jackson was in honor of Major General Andrew Jackson, who would later become the seventh president of the United States. During the Civil War, the town was burned and ravaged three times by Union troops. The population began accelerating rapidly after 1900. As of the 2013 comprehensive annual financial report, Jackson has 173,514 citizens within its radius of 113 square miles. The municipal government includes the mayor and seven council members, a Chief Administrative Officer, a City Attorney, and eight department heads (Department, 2015, pp. ii-iii)....