Federal Government Accounting and Reporting

Instructions
Write a 3–5 page paper in which you do the following:
Discuss at least three unique characteristics of the federal government that necessitate special accounting and reporting practices, presenting at least one example for each transaction.
Choose at least three unique characteristics of the federal government that necessitate special accounting and reporting practices.
Discuss these characteristics, presenting at least one example for each one.
Accurately identify and explain the type of audit performed, the audit opinion issued, and the auditor’s reasons for that opinion, on the most recent federal government financial statement.
Each year the federal government issues an “official” comprehensive financial report that covers all its activities and is subject to audit.
Review the most recent Financial Report of the United States Government.
Explain the type of audit performed, the audit opinion issued, and the auditor’s reason for that opinion. (Auditor’s opinion is last item on Table of Contents).
Identify all eight of the financial statements presented by the federal government and the relevance of each one’s contents to a financial statement user.
In reviewing the federal government’s financial statements, you will observe more basic financial statements than were required by GASB for the local governments or by FASB for not-for-profits.
Identify each financial statement presented by the federal government and the relevance of the statement’s content to a financial statement user.
Express an opinion on whether the selected financial statement met its objectives, correctly identifying the objectives, justifying the opinion with three relative pieces of data from the Financial Report.
Congress enacted the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, which requires federal agencies to develop strategic plans, operational objectives, and measures of performance, reporting on the extent to which the agency met its objectives.
Select one of the federal government reporting entities included in the Financial Report of the United States Government, and express an opinion on whether it is meeting its objectives. Justify your opinion with at least three pieces of data from the reporting entity’s Financial Report (reporting entities are listed in Appendix A).
 Accounting

Federal Government Accounting and Reporting

Question 1

In contrast to most private sector businesses the federal government and its business are under rigorous scrutiny from a broad variety of stakeholders, which includes the elected representatives, government units, investors, creditors as well as ordinary citizens. Control functions are usually executed using the data provided in reports of the government since surveillance of any kind involves the collection and analysis of information. annual financial statements, which reveal the state of the finances, cashflows and the operations of a company within a particular accounting year constitute one of the crucial kinds of communications. In order to ensure that consumers are able to compare and use reports from various governments efficiently each government prepares its annual report in accordance with the guidelines set by the standards-setting bodies. In order for the government to be held accountable , the financial information must be reliable and helpful for moderately educated users (FASAB Handbook 18,). There are a myriad of requirements to be fulfilled for financial statements to be helpful and useful, such as information about the company’s financial health and liquidity, in addition to the long-term plan to spend money on capital and operations (Kearney and others. 126). However however, the federal government is characterized by distinctive features that require particular methods of accounting and reporting. The most notable feature is the broadness of powers vested to the Federal Government