Meeting Minutes
Department of Financial Services
Chart of Accounts Project
Meeting Name:
Meeting Group:
Date:
Time:
Location:
Requestor:
DFS Chart of Accounts Project
Nature Coast Chapter – Florida Government Finance Officers Association
January 18, 2012
2:00 p.m.
Citrus Hills Golf and Country Club, Hernando, Florida
Attendees: There were 32 attendees, representing the governmental groups listed below. The
Department of Financial Services (DFS) was represented by Elwood McElhaney.
Cities – 8
Counties – 15
Water Management Districts – 5
Special Districts – 3 (The Villages)
State Courts System – 1
Elwood McElhaney provided an overview of the project. The enabling law was discussed in detail, and
Mr. McElhaney provided insight into how the law is being interpreted, the steps that have been taken to
date, and the current project direction. A summary of the Assets, Liabilities, and Revenues that are
currently in use by the various reporting groups was discussed with emphasis on ways to consolidate the
list into a smaller, more usable list. Other outstanding issues discussed were the level of reporting, the
timing of reporting, and the inclusion or exclusion of ‘Other Entities’.
The following findings, comments, and recommendations resulted from the meeting:
1. There was conversation regarding why this law was enacted and who is going to use this
information. The general feeling is that citizens on the street will not understand such technical
accounting information. Also, this information is already available to the public since most
agencies publish their financial information on websites.
2. There were questions regarding how this reporting would differ from the reporting to the
Bureau of Local Government (BOLG), which most in attendance currently provide. BOLG
reporting is done on an annual basis – this will likely be done on a monthly or quarterly basis.
3. The attendees were curious why the project is not intending to use the existing chart of
accounts that is required by the BOLG since the local governments are already set up to follow
that reporting model? That model contains much more detail on Revenues than the Project is
hoping to carry. It also reports Expenditures by ‘function’, whereas this project is looking to
capture and report expenditures by ‘type’. Attendees stated that they also have Expenditures
by Object Code that could be substituted. Since the law allows DFS to develop a different chart
of accounts for the individual reporting groups, McElhaney responded that DFS would look into
adapting the Bureau of Local Government Chart of Accounts for the purposes of this project.
4. County government is generally composed of five separate constitutional officers – the Clerk of
the Courts, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, Sheriff, and Supervisor of Elections. All have
separate financial functions, but their financial information is consolidated, generally by the
Clerk, for the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reporting purposes. For purposes of reporting
under this law, attendees recommended reporting each of the offices separately. Periodically
preparing consolidated reporting at the County level would be very costly.
5. There was little opposition, among the attendees, to the inclusion of ‘other entities’, which
indicates that they generally do not exist at the city and county levels.
6. The Water Management financial officers meet periodically, but the city and county officers
generally do not get together except for the Government Finance Officers Association meetings.
Mr. McElhaney was given the name of a contact at the Florida League of Cities to initiate
statewide communication with this group.
7. DFS would like to propose a high level “draft” Chart of Accounts around July, 1, 2012, and then
hold a series of workshops around the state to refine the chart. DFS hopes to have as many
issues resolved, as possible, when the final draft chart of accounts is provided for comments on
July 1, 2013.
Mr. McElhaney provided a brief overview of the Contract Reporting System Project and how it will
affect the attendees.
The meeting adjourned at 3:40 PM.