Unit 1 – Not-for-profit vs. Governmental Accounting
One of the characteristics unique to governmental and not-for-profit organizations is the inability to eliminate unprofitable activities. Clearly, in the case of these activities, you cannot use profitability to evaluate success.
• How is success determined in service programs that must be subsidized, and how does it differ between governmental organizations and nonprofit organizations?
• Identify a governmental and a not-for-profit program of this nature and then do the following:
o Offer some background on each program.
o Indicate how success is measured in these programs.
o Offer any differences or similarities you find when comparing these programs with regard to how the success is measured.
You recently landed your dream job working for the state as an accountant. You are given the task to research several state and local governmental financial accounting issues.
For each of the following issues, rank the guidance based on the governmental GAAP hierarchy.
• Issue 1:
o Governmental accounting textbook
o GASB Technical Bulletin
o FASB statement
o GASB interpretation
• Issue 2:
o AICPA Practice Bulletins (applying specifically to state and local government)
o AICPA Industry Audit and Accounting Guides
o AICPA issue papers
o Widely recognized industry practice
• Issue 3:
o International Accounting Standards Committee Statements
o AIPCA Statements of Position (applying specifically to state and local government)
o GASB Q&As
o GASB Statement
• Issue 4:
o Article in a leading audit journal
o FASB Statement
o Leading accounting textbook
o Position statement from GASB Emerging Issues Taskforce
• Issue 5:
o GASB Technical Bulletin
o FASB Technical Bulletin
o Speech from a leading accounting professor
o GASB concept statement
