Governmental Fund

A Governmental Fund is a government fund category composed of funds for activities primarily supported by taxes, grants, and similar revenue sources.

• Context:
  • It can be composed of a Bookkeeping Sub-Sub-Accounts, such as a Governmental General Funds, Governmental Special Revenue Funds, Governmental Capital Projects Funds, Governmental Debt Service Funds, and Governmental Permanent Funds.
• Example(s):
  • Governmental General Funds, such as: ...
  • Governmental Special Revenue Funds, such as: ...
  • Governmental Capital Projects Funds, such as: ...
  • Governmental Debt Service Funds, such as: ...
  • Governmental Permanent Funds, such as: ...
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • a Proprietary Fund.
  • a Fiduciary Fund.
• See: Funds Account, Governmental Activities Funds, Governmental Utility Billing Funds.

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References

2016

• (Wikipedia, 2016) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fund_accounting#State_and_local_government_funds Retrieved:2016-1-7.
  • State and local governments use three broad categories of funds: governmental funds, proprietary funds and fiduciary funds.

    Governmental funds include the following.

    • General fund. This fund is used to account for general operations and activities not requiring the use of other funds.
    • Special revenue (or special) funds are required to account for the use of revenue earmarked by law for a particular purpose. State and federal fuel tax revenues require special revenue funds, because federal and state laws restrict these taxes to transportation uses.
    • Capital projects funds are used to account for the construction or acquisition of fixed assets, such as buildings, equipment and roads. Depending on its use, a fixed asset may instead be financed by a special revenue fund or a proprietary fund. A capital project fund exists only until completion of the project. Fixed assets acquired and long-term debts incurred by a capital project are assigned to the government's General Fixed Assets and Long-Term Debts.
    • Debt service funds are used to account for money that will be used to pay the interest and principal of long-term debts. Bonds used by a government to finance major construction projects, to be paid by tax levies over a period of years, require a debt service fund to account for their repayment. The debts of special assessment and proprietary funds are serviced within those funds, rather than by a separate debt service fund.
    • Permanent funds account for public infrastructure improvements financed by special levies against property holders. Sidewalk and alley repairs often rely on special assessments.

2013

• (Georgia Department of Community Affairs, 2013) ⇒ Georgia Department of Community Affairs. (2013). “Third Edition of the Uniform Chart of Accounts for Local Governments in Georgia."
  • QUOTE: Governmental funds — used to account for activities primarily supported by taxes, grants, and similar revenue sources.

2007

• http://www.gasb.org/cs/ContentServer?pagename=GASB/GASBContent_C/UsersArticlePage&cid=1176156735732
  • QUOTE: There are three groups of funds for which financial statements are prepared — governmental, proprietary, and fiduciary. Proprietary funds are employed to report on activities financed primarily by revenues generated by the activities themselves, such as a municipal utility. Fiduciary funds contain resources held by a government but belonging to individuals or entities other than the government. A prime example is a trust fund for a public employee pension plan.

     Governmental funds account for everything else. This is where the bread-and-butter services can be found — police, fire, social services, sanitation, and so on.

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