Question

How do you analyze the financial statement of a state to be specific to the latest CAFR 2018 of NYC?

Answer 1

The CAFR provides information as follows:

• Comptroller’s Letter of Transmittal: gives a high-level overview of the CAFR and reports from the divisions and bureaus of the Comptroller’s office.
• Independent Auditors’ Report: provides the auditors’ most recent opinions concerning the City’s audited financial statements.
• Management’s Discussion and Analysis: provides a narrative overview and analysis of the financial activities of The City of New York.
• Government-Wide and Fund Financial Statements: provides financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting policy and standards.
• Notes to Financial Statements and Required Supplementary Information: explains the information that appears in the financial statements.
• Fiduciary Fund Statements: provides the financial statements for the fiduciary funds, including the five New York City Pension Trusts.
• General and Capital Fund Detailed Schedules of Revenues and Expenditures: summarizes revenues and expenditures, by City agency and by program.
• Financial Trends and Other Statistical Information: provides supplementary information, as per the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement no. 34.

The New York City financial reporting entity consists of the City government and its Component Units. Component Units are legally separate organizations for which the City is financially accountable. There are two types of Component Units: Blended and Discretely Presented. A Blended Component Unit’s financial information is reported within the City’s financial statements as if it were a part of the City. This is due to the fact that, even though the Component Unit is a separate legal entity, it provides services exclusively to the City. A Discretely Presented Component Unit does not provide services exclusively to the City, and therefore its financial information is reported in a separate column on the City’s government-wide financial statements.