2012 Cities and Towns Annual Report - CTAR

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Introduction The State Board of Accounts has implemented the Annual Financial Report (AFR) through the Indiana Per IC 5- 11 -1 -4 every municipality and local government is required to provide electronically and in a manner prescribed by the state examiner, financial reports for the fiscal year not later than sixty days after the close of the fiscal year. Completion and submission of the Gateway Annual Financial Report (AFR) will fulfill this requirement. This User Guide focuses on the Gateway AFR application, which enables local units of government to enter their AFR via the web. The Gateway was developed as a collaborative project among the Department of Local Government Finance (DLFG), the State Board of Accounts (SBOA), and the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business as part of the Information for Indiana (1Fl) initiative. IBRC also hosts and maintains the site. Funding is provided by IBRC and the State of Indiana. Information regarding the DLGF portion of the Gateway (Budget Submission) is available at http : / /www.in.gov /dluf /8918.htm. Information about IBRC and IFI is available at htty:Hwww.ibrc .indiana.edu /initiatives.html. Benefits of the Gateway The Gateway will increase the efficiency in the collection and decimation of local government financial information. With this electronic data, we will place taxpayer - friendly reports and interactive research tools online, dramatically increasing transparency and accessibility of local government financial information for the citizens and taxpayers of Indiana. Submission of the AFR through Gateway will offer local units of government and taxpayers an important tool for understanding the services local governments provide and the cost of providing them. Once submitted, the AFR will be available online for all to view. Financial data also will become part of an interactive, taxpayer - friendly research website where figures can be compared against other local units, analyzed per capita, and put in the context of economic conditions. This research website became available shortly after the November Budget adoption deadline in 2011. Currently, it contains Budget data collected via the Budget portion of the Gateway starting for the year 2012. It also includes financial data starting for the year 2011 (receipts, disbursements, and balances). How much will this conversion cost governmental entities? Gateway is free to use, and any government entity can use Gateway within its existing resources. Since Gateway is web- based, a government entity can access the application from any computer with internet access, public or private, without installing any software. Government entities without computers or internet access can find free internet service at any campus of Indiana University or Ivy Tech, which are partnering with the State to provide temporary access to government officials without computers. In addition, most libraries will have public access computer tenninals. HOW 111uC11 time will it take to use? Gateway is easy to use, but the length of time it will take to input the data by local officials will vary based on a variety of factors. As with paper forms, the size of the government entity and the complexity of its fiscal structure will influence the time it takes to complete the AFR. 01/15/2013 Gateway Annual Financial Report User Guide