Assignment Details
Examine the Budget
Obtain a copy of the City of Orlando government’s annual operating budget document from its Web site. This Web page provides a copy of this budget.
Familiarize yourself with the organization of the operating budget document; read the letter of transmittal or any narrative that accompanies the budget.
Prepare a 5-page document showing your analysis of the budget. Start by answering the following questions to aid in assessing the quality of the budget document that you are reviewing.
Provide the page numbers where the information is found in the budget.
Introduction and Overview
Answer the following questions:
• Does the operating budget include a table of contents to help you locate information in the document?
• Does the budget document include a coherent statement of organization-wide goals and strategies that address long-term issues?
• Does the document address short-term factors that influence the development of the budget?
• Does it include a budget message that articulates priorities and issues for the upcoming year?
• Does the budget document provide an overview of significant budgetary items and trends within the budget document that support ethical and legal accounting practices?
Financial Structure, Policy, and Process
Answer the following questions:
• Does the budget document include an organization chart?
• Does the budget document describe all funds that are subject to appropriation?
• Does the document include narratives, tables, schedules, or matrices to show the relationship between functional units, major funds, and nonmajor funds in the aggregate?
• Is the basis of budgeting explained for all funds—whether cash, modified accrual, or some other statutory basis?
• Is a coherent statement of entity-wide long-term financial policies included?
• Does the document address ethical and legal aspects of the process for preparing, reviewing, adopting, and amending the budget?
Financial Summaries
Answer the following questions:
• Does the document present a summary of major revenues and expenditures, as well as other financing sources and uses?
• Does the document include summaries of revenues, other financing sources, and expenditures and other financing uses for prior-year actual, current-year budget or estimated current-year actual, and proposed budget year?
• Does the document include projected changes in fund balances for governmental funds covered in the budget presentation, including all balances potentially available for appropriation?
• Are major revenue sources described?
• Does the budget document explain long-range financial plans and potential impacts on the budget and budgeting process?
Capital and Debt
Answer the following questions:
• Does the budget document include budgeted capital expenditures (even if these are authorized in a separate capital budget)?
• Does the document describe whether—and to what extent—significant and nonroutine capital expenditures or other major capital spending will affect the entity’s current and future operating budget?
• Are financial data on current debt obligations provided, describing the relationship between current debt levels and legal debt limits and explaining the effects of existing debt levels on current and future operations?
Departmental Information
Answer the following questions:
• Is a schedule or summary table provided that gives personnel or position counts for prior, current, and budget years?
• Does the operating budget describe activities, services, or functions carried out by organizational units?
• Does it include clearly stated goals and objectives of the organizational units?
• Are objective measures of progress toward accomplishing the government’s mission, as well as goals and objectives, provided for specific units or programs?
Document-Wide Criteria
Answer the following questions:
• Does the document include statistical and supplemental data that describe the organization and the community or population that it serves, and does it provide other pertinent background information related to services provided?
• Does the document provide ethical and legal guidelines for the organization’s financial position?
• Is there a glossary to define terms (including abbreviations and acronyms) that are not readily understood by a reasonably informed reader?
• Are charts and graphs used, where appropriate, to highlight financial and statistical information?
• Is narrative information provided when the messages conveyed by the charts and graphs are not self-evident?
• Finally, is the document produced and formatted in such a way as to enhance understanding by the average reader?
Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, that you will need the following:
• Title page: Remember the running head. The title should be in all capitals.
• Length: 5 pages minimum
• Body: This begins on the page following the title page and must be double-spaced (be careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between paragraphs). The typeface should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics, except as required for APA-level headings and references. The deliverable length of the body of your paper for this assignment is 5 pages. In-body academic citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged.
• Reference page: References that align with your in-body academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper. The references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hanging indent, italics, and uppercase and lowercase usage as appropriate for the type of resource used. Remember, the Reference page is not a bibliography but a further listing of the abbreviated in-body citations used in the paper. Every referenced item must have a corresponding in-body citation.
