In April 2016 the San Francisco (CA) Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector imposed a new requirement that all drivers for ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft register as business owners. As a result of the requirement, drivers are now required to pay a business license fee of up to $15,000 depending on how much revenue they generate. Uber’s management bitterly opposed this measure, arguing that its drivers are not business owners but rather entrepreneurs who deliver a contracted service arranged through its app. This same basic challenge of defining and taxing a “business” applies to other sharing platforms like AirBnB, HomeAway, TaskRabbit, InstaCart, and many others. But beyond those core services, no two municipal governments are alike.

That is, a fund is major if it comprises at least 5-10% of the total revenues of all government activities or all business-type activities. GAAP requires a set of financial statements for each major fund. The remaining non-major funds are “rolled up” into a single set of financial statements. Accountants usually report assets at historical cost, or the cost the organization paid to acquire them.

For Governments – The Statement of Activities

The program was held at a school 100 miles from Treehouse headquarters. The two staff members who delivered that program rode together to that off-site location in one of their personal vehicles. Many non-profits and government organizations follow the federal government’s guidance and reimburse mileage at a fixed rate of 57.5 cents per mile. Under governmental accounting rules, the money Rochester expects to spend on OPEB benefits over the next 30 years must be recognized as a long-term liability.

• Each student would receive tutoring services in September through May.
• If a government pushes costs into future fiscal periods, then future taxpayers will have to either pay more taxes or expect less in services.
• Each of the subsequent chapters covers a bundle of tools that public financial managers use to inform financial strategy.
• For building space, for example, we might find the portion of the total building space that’s occupied by the copier, and allocate a proportionate share of the building space costs to the copier copy center.
• Becoming an effective manager requires continuously honing and improving your management skills.

As you’ll see later, “balanced budget” can mean rather different things in different places. But overall, states don’t spend more money than they collect. As you saw above, throughout the past several decades the federal government’s spending has routinely exceeded its revenues.

How to Read an Annual Report

They wanted to enroll their children in the tutoring program starting January 2016. They knew they would not be able to pay the full cost of PASS’s tutoring services. Nevertheless, they had raised $2,000 amongst themselves and hoped that Chang would The Basic Financial Statements Financial Strategy for Public Managers tutor their children in the upcoming year. She knew this was an issue she needed to bring to the Board first. Sales and income taxes are the most common type of derived taxes, meaning the taxes collected are derived from some other transaction.

It includes national defense, most of the “health” spending category, and virtually all of the “everything else” category. There is considerable debate on whether national defense is, in fact, discretionary spending. Legislators are not eager to cut funding to troops in harm’s way. So keep in mind that when Congress debates its annual budget, in effect, it’s debating about 10-25% of what it will eventually spend.

Cost Analysis

This book does not include filing a 990 or how to meet Charity Watchdog requirements, but what is does cover is excellent. After enrolling in a program, you may request a withdrawal with refund (minus a $100 nonrefundable enrollment fee) up until 24 hours after the start of your program. Please review the Program Policies page for more details https://quickbooks-payroll.org/ on refunds and deferrals. We accept payments via credit card, wire transfer, Western Union, and (when available) bank loan. Some candidates may qualify for scholarships or financial aid, which will be credited against the Program Fee once eligibility is determined. Please refer to the Payment & Financial Aid page for further information.

A state retirement system is not a service, and even if it was, it wouldn’t deliver that service until the next fiscal year. So instead, OP will book this as a deferred outflow of resources, and book a corresponding increase in liabilities. By not booking a liability, and not actually spending the cash, OP’s FY15 balance sheet looks much stronger. At the same time, it has committed resources to the future, and that will impact its operations in the coming year. By recognizing a deferred outflow of resources, OP has offered us a clearer picture of how well the resources it collects each year cover its annual spending needs. These two world views are different in many other important ways.

At the same time, they either failed to make the necessary contributions or fell short of their annual required contribution (ARC). Instead, they relied on robust returns on investments and above average discount rates to value their long-term obligation. The result of which was inflated assets and understated liabilities. Interest rates are one of the most important numbers in public budgeting and finance. Banks and other financial institutions lend consumers and governments money at “market interest rates” like the annual percentage rate (APR).

Treehouse’s balance sheet includes the two most common current liabilities – accounts payable and accrued salaries and related costs (i.e. wages payable). These are liabilities that will come due within the fiscal year. Like many non-profits, Treehouse does not report any long-term liabilities. If it had a mortgage, loan payable, or other liabilities that will come due over multiple years it would report them as long-term liabilities. Beyond the editorial, an annual report summarizes financial data and includes a company’s income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. It also provides industry insights, management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A), accounting policies, and additional investor information.