Review the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for 2013 from the city of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and answer the following questions.

• Explain how Cedar Falls follows the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 34. Create a brief outline that showcases the flow.
• Read the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) section on page 18 and describe 2 or more significant areas that were addressed by management.
• From the notes of the financial statements starting on page 46, describe which accounting policies are being utilized by the city.
• What did you discover in the statistical section?
  • How is the city doing?
  • Provide an analysis.
  • Examine the funds listed under the budget on page 37 and discuss how they are being utilized by Cedar Falls. Include some examples of items that would be included in these funds and any restrictions that might apply.
  • By looking at the budget starting on page 81, choose 2 different funds and discuss how they are being utilized by Cedar Falls. Include some examples of items that would be included in these funds and any restrictions that might apply.
• Define and give examples of the infrastructure assets that are held by Cedar Falls.
• Describe the circumstances, and provide the journal entries for the 2 entries that are going in to the general fund.
  • For example, 1 entry goes into the debt service fund and 1 goes into the capital projects fund.
  • The governor of Texas is considered relatively weak by national standards. Texas has a plural executive, meaning voters elect a lot of the executive branch officials (comptroller, agriculture commissioner, land commissioner, lieutenant governor, attorney general, etc.) independently. The governor, therefore, has little control over the executive branch of state government, since the guys who run it mostly don’t report to him – they answer only to the voters.

    One area where the governor holds real power, though, is in the legislative process. The Texas Constitution allows the governor to call the state legislature into special session and gives him the sole power to set the session’s agenda. Bills on subjects not included in the governor’s “call” cannot be considered. The Constitution also allows the governor the power to veto bills passed by the legislature. While the legislature technically has the power to override his veto with a 2/3 vote, he generally vetoes bills after the legislature has adjourned – making the threat of an override meaningless.