2011 Audit Report - the Burr Ridge Park District

The Statement of Activities presents information showing how the Burr Ridge Park District’s net assets changedduring the most recent fiscal year. All changes in net assets are reported as soon as the underlying eventgiving rise to the change occurs, regardless of the timing related cash flows. Thus, revenues and expenses arereported in this statement for some items that will result in cash flows in future fiscal periods (e.g., propertytaxes levied for general purposes).Both government -wide financial statements distinguish governmental activities of the District that are principallysupported by taxes and intergovernmental revenues, such as grants, from business -type activities that areintended to recover all or a significant portion of their costs through user fees and charges.The governme nt-wide financial statemen ts can be found on pages 9 - 10 of this report.Fund Financial StatementsA fund is an accountability unit used to maintain control over resources segregated for specific activities orobjectives. The District uses funds to ensure and demonstrate compliance with finance-related laws andregulations. Within the basic financial statements, fund financial statements focus on the District’s mostsignificant funds rather than the District as a whole, and therefore provide additional information that won’t befound in the statement of net assets or the statement of activities. Major funds are separately reported while allothers are combined into a single, aggregated presentation. Individual fund data for non-major funds isprovided in the form of combining statements in a later section of this report.Governmental funds are reported in the fund financial statements and encompass essentially the samefunctions reported as governmental activities in the government -wide financial statements. However, the focusis very different with the fund statements providing a distinctive view of the District’s governmental funds. Thesestatements report short-term fiscal accountability focusing on the use of spendable resources and balances ofspendable resources available at the end of the year. They are useful in evaluating annual financingrequirements of governmental programs and the commitment of spendable resources for the near-term.Because the focus of governmental funds is narrower than that of the government -wide financial statements, itis useful to compare the information presented for governmental funds with similar information for governmentalactivities in the governmental -wide financial statements. By doing so, readers may better understand the longtermimpact of the government’s near-term financing decisions. Both the governmental fund balance sheet andthe governmental fund statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balances provide areconciliation to facilitat e this comparison between governmental funds and governmental activities.- 4 -