Chapter 4 Recording Operating Transactions Affecting the General Fund and Governmental Activities at the Government-wide Level Presented below are a

of the next year.

To close the temporary accounts, you must click on the check mark for [Closing Entry], “Closing Entry” will appear in the [Transaction Description] box. Be sure the check mark in the box for [Closing Entry] is showing before closing each individual account.  Also, you will be sent to the Detail Journal where you must close each individual budgetary or operating statement account.  To determine the closing amounts for both General Ledger and subsidiary ledger accounts, you will need to first save and print the pre-closing version of these ledgers for year 2017 from the [Reports] menu. 

      At year-end, an analysis by the city’s finance department determined the following constraints on resources in the General Fund.  Prepare the appropriate journal entry in the General Fund to reclassify amounts between Fund Balance—Unassigned and the fund balance accounts corresponding to the constraints shown below.  (Note: You should consider the beginning of year balances in fund balance accounts in calculating the amounts to be reclassified. Be sure the check mark in the box for [Closing Entry] is showing before closing each individual account.)

                       Account                                                                 Ending Balance

Fund Balance—Restricted—Public Safety                            $36,000

Fund Balance—Committed—Health and Welfare                   43,000

Fund Balance—Committed—Public Works                           12,700

                  Fund Balance—Assigned—Culture and Recreation                         0

      Note: DO NOT PREPARE CLOSING ENTRIES FOR GOVERNMENTAL ACTIVITIES AT THIS TIME since governmental activities will not be closed until Chapter 9, after the capital projects fund (Chapter 5) and debt service fund (Chapter 6) transactions affecting governmental activities at the government-wide level have been recorded.

b.   Select [Export] from the drop down [File] menu to create an Excel worksheet of the General Fund post-closing trial balance as of December 31, 2017.  Use Excel to prepare in good form a balance sheet for the General Fund as of December 31, 2017.  Follow the format shown in Illustration 4-3 of Reck and Lowensohn, Accounting for Governmental & Nonprofit Entities, 17th edition textbook (hereafter referred to as “the textbook”).  Alternatively, you can click on [Reports] to print the post-closing trial balance and use the printed copy to manually prepare a balance sheet. 

c.   Select [Export] from the drop down [File] menu to create an Excel worksheet of the General Fund pre-closing subsidiary ledger account balances for the year 2017.  Use Excel to prepare in good form a statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance for the General Fund for the year ended December 31, 2017. (See Illustration 4-4 in the textbook for an example format.)

d.   Use the Excel worksheet of the General Fund pre-closing subsidiary ledger account balances created in part c above to prepare in good form a schedule of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance—budget and actual for the General Fund for the year ended December 31, 2017. (See Illustration 4-5 in the textbook for an example format.)

e.   Prepare a reconciliation of total expenditures reported in your solution to part c of this problem with the total expenditures and encumbrances reported in your solution to part d of this problem. (In Chapter 4 below Illustration 4-5, see discussion and example which compares Illustrations 4-4 and 4-5.)