Res 2008-123 - Laserfiche WebLink

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D. Financial Reporting - 1. External Reporting -The City Finance Department will prepare the necessary transmittal letter, financial summaries and tables, notes and miscellaneous financial information contained within the comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR). The auditing firm will audit this financial information for compliance with GAAP. The audited CAFR will be submitted to the City Council for their review and will be made available to the public for inspection. 2. Internal Reporting -The City Finance Department will prepare internal financial reports, sufficient to plan, monitor, and control the City's financial affairs. The City Finance Department will strive for excellence in its financial reporting. The following qualitative characteristics of accounting information will be incorporated in all reports that are prepared: Definitions of Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting Information: Bias -Bias in measurement is the tendency of a measure to fall more often on one side than the other of what it represents instead of being equally likely to fall on either side. Bias in accounting measures means a tendency to be consistently too high or too low. Financial reporting will strive to eliminate bias in accounting measures. • Comparability -The quality of information that enables users to identify similarities in and differences between two sets of economic phenomena. • Completeness -The inclusion in reported information of everything material that is necessary for faithful representation. • Conservatism - A prudent reaction to uncertainty to try to insure that uncertainty and risks inherent in financial situations are adequately considered. • Consistency -Conformity from period to period with unchanging policies and procedures. • Feedback Value -The quality of information that enables users to confirm or correct prior expectations. • Materiality -The magnitude of an omission or misstatement of accounting information that, in light of surrounding circumstances, makes it probable that the judgment of a reasonable person relying on the information would have been changed or influenced by the omission or misstatement. • Neutrality -Absence in reported information of bias intended to attain a predetermined result or to induce a particular mode of behavior. City of San Marcos Financial Policy -Proposed Sept 2008 Page 13