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<br /> <br />Date: February 26, 2025 <br /> <br /> <br />To: Honorable Mayor and City Council <br /> <br />Through: Athanasia Lewis, Interim City Administrator <br /> <br />From: Bruce DeJong, Finance Director <br /> <br /> <br />Subject: Finance Department Overview and Initiatives <br /> <br /> <br />As Finance Director, I think itÓs important to explain departmental operations to new City Council <br />members and review the information with existing members. There are a lot of things that we do, <br />some of which are obvious and many that occur in the background. <br /> <br />Some of this may be review from Newly Elected Official training, but some may be new <br />information. I will try to move fairly fast during the presentation but am always available to discuss <br />any topic you may want to look at in more depth. <br /> <br />Governmental Accounting Overview <br /> <br />Governmental accounting is also called fund accounting. We have individual funds be some <br />money is restricted either by function or the grantor. This is because we have some revenues that <br />can only be spent on specific items. <br /> <br />We keep all the restricted money for a specific purpose in one fund. This allows us to show <br />accountability to the people who provided the funds that we have met their restrictions. <br /> <br />The finance staff have a standard rhythm to the fiscal year. At the start of the year, we start with <br />a brand-new budget. For the first couple of months staff is primarily concerned with year-end <br />activities from the prior year. We must do annual reporting for W-2 and 1099Ós for employees <br />and contractors. <br /> <br />Then we start reviewing transactions for year-end audit needs. We create accrual journal entries <br />for accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll payable, calculate interest receivable, and <br />perform depreciation calculations. Then we have an audit completed by a CPA firm. The timing <br />5 <br /> <br />