Section 3: 10–20%B12

Government-Wide Statements and Reconciliations

Exam insight

Governments present both fund statements (mostly modified accrual) and government-wide statements (full accrual). BAR tests the conversion between them heavily. Moving from fund balance to net position means adding capital assets and subtracting long-term debt.

What AICPA wants you to know

1Identify the two government-wide statements and the activities they include
2Distinguish governmental, business-type, and fiduciary activities in the reporting model
3Reconcile total governmental fund balance to government-wide net position
4Reconcile the change in fund balance to the change in net position
5Apply the 10%/5% major fund test and describe the components of the annual financial report

Patterns in this topic

The exam re-skins the same archetypes. Recognize these here, then drill them in the Pattern Lab.

The Government-Wide BridgeFull accrual restores what the funds omit: add net capital assets, subtract long-term debt, and exclude fiduciary activities entirely.The Fund StructurePlace the transaction in the right fund, classify fund balance by how binding the constraint is, and test a major fund on 10 and 5 percent.

Exam tip

Study smarter: before you expand each card, cover the screen and try to recall what the concept means from its title alone. Retrieving it from memory builds the recall the exam actually tests, and it beats re-reading.