Laserfiche WebLink
Significant Accounting Policies <br />Management has the responsibility for selection and use of appropriate accounting policies. In <br />accordance with the terms of our engagement letter, we will advise management about the <br />appropriateness of accounting policies and their application. The significant accounting policies used <br />by the City of Lino Lakes are described in Note 1 to the general purpose financial statements. No new <br />accounting policies were adopted and the application of existing policies was not changed during 2001. <br />We noted no transactions entered into by the City during the year that were both significant and <br />unusual, and of which, under professional standards, we are required to inform you, or transactions for <br />which there is a lack of authoritative guidance or consensus. <br />Management Judgments and Accounting Estimates <br />Accounting estimates are an integral part of the general purpose financial statements prepared by <br />management and are based on management's current judgments. Certain accounting estimates are <br />particularly sensitive because of their significance to the financial statements and because of the <br />possibility that future events affecting them may differ significantly from management's current <br />judgments. <br />Significant accounting estimates include the following: <br />Annual depreciation is provided in the proprietary funds using rates sufficient to fully <br />depreciate the related fixed assets over their useful lives based on past experiences. <br />The year end valuation of investments at fair value. <br />The City records allowances for uncollectible receivables based upon an analysis of the <br />collectibility of individual accounts and notes, taking into account delinquencies and payment <br />histories. <br />The City has recognized sick leave payable in the general long-term debt account <br />group. The amount recorded includes amounts earned through December 31, 2001 <br />by employees eligible for retirement at that date. In addition, an amount is recorded <br />for those individuals not eligible for retirement at December 31, 2001, but for whom <br />pay-out of the amount earned to that date is reasonably expected. This estimate is <br />derived by an analysis of the pay-out history and current and anticipated future <br />employment conditions. <br />Significant Audit Adjustments <br />For purposes of this letter, professional standards define a significant audit adjustment as a proposed <br />correction of the general purpose financial statements that, in our judgment, may not have been <br />detected except through our auditing procedures. Those adjustments may include those proposed by <br />us but not recorded by the City that could potentially cause future financial statements to be materially <br />misstated, even though we have concluded that such adjustments are not material to the current <br />financial statements. We proposed no audit adjustments that could, in our judgment, either individually <br />or in the aggregate, have a significant effect on the City's financial reporting process. <br />We also accumulated potential adjustments, which were discussed with management, that we <br />considered both individually and collectively immaterial and, therefore, were not made to the financial <br />statements. These potential adjustments are summarized in the attached schedule. <br />(5) <br />