Introduction to Fund Accounting

Rating:
Summary: A Good Introductory Text
Review: I use this textbook in teaching my governmental accounting course at our local community college, and I am also a CPA practicing in local government.

This textbook provides a good introduction to basic fund accounting concepts, specifically local governmental accounting. It is short (only seven chapters), which is great for a semester-long course, since it allows plenty of time for covering the material in-depth.

The first four chapters move fairly slowly, introducing the concepts of not-for-profit organizations and fund accounting. They also provide a thorough review of basic accounting concepts, although for some students, the material is almost too simplistic.

The last three chapters are the heart and soul of the course, dealing with budgetary transactions, property tax transactions, encumbrance accounting, interfund transactions, revenue and expenditure detail and preparation of basic financial statements.

The material deals solely with transactions in a general fund, so there is no exposure to the types of transactions which are peculiar to other fund types. As a practicing governmental accountant, this sometimes seems less than adequate to me, but I have to remind myself that this is an introductory course and textbook, and its purpose is to give students a glimpse into the world of governmental accounting.

The author knows her material well; she studied at the University of Arizona with one of the pioneers in fund accounting, Edward S. Lynn. Indeed, portions of her textbook are modeled on his text, Fund Accounting: Theory and Practice.

The only drawback I find in this textbook is it lacks somewhat in providing real-world applications of the material. Many of the methods discussed in the text are not used in practice anymore, largely because of advances in recent technology. However, that is where my practical experience comes in, as I provide those real-world applications to supplement the material in the book throughout the course.

All in all, a very good introductory text.