Financial Reporting: Framework for Analyzing Federal Agency Financial Statements

Our first objective was to develop a framework, consisting of concepts, measures, and techniques, which could be used to analyze federal agency financial statements. The studys second objective was to apply this framework to an agencys financial statements in our example, the Department of Veterans Affairs. The analytical concepts and techniques are developed to provide legislators, top officials of the executive branch department secretaries, their deputies, and agency administrators, and other government planners and managers, with a means to better understand and use information contained in federal agency financial statements. Financial analysts and accountants either within or outside the federal government should also find the framework useful. For example, a financial anaalyst may identify a specific area of an entitys operations that warrants further detailed analysis. While not the primary purpose of this framework, the attributes, measures, and techniques included here could be used to carry out that more detailed analysis.