2 Assessing Financial Condition Instructions: you must use and cite at least two of the following articles as optional reading: Brown, K. (1993) The 10-point test of financial condition: Toward an easy to use assessment tool for smaller cities, Government Finance Review, 9(6): 21 – 26. Chaney, B. Mead, D., and Schermann, K. (2002) Financial reporting model: What it means for analyzing government financial condition. The Journal of Government Financial Management, 51(1): 26 – 31. Feng, M., Li, C., and McVay, S. 2009. “Internal Control and Management Guidance,” Journal of Accounting and Economics (48:2/3), pp. 190-209. Hendrick, R. (2004) Assessing and measuring the fiscal health of local governments – Focus on Chicago suburban municipalities. Urban Affairs Review 40(1): 78 – 114. Jimenez, Benedict. (2009). Fiscal Stress and the Allocation of Expenditure Responsibilities between State and Local Governments: An Exploratory Study. State and Local Government Review. 41(2). 81-94. Rose, S. & Smith, D. (2012). “Budget Slack, Institutions, and Transparency.” Public Administration Review, 72 (2): 187-195 1. Select a city to analyze other than those you used for the CAFR and OS assignments. 2. Please provide a summary of the city’s profile (100-150 words) 3. Briefly discuss the form of government and the structure of the elected officials (100-150 words). 4. Discuss in summary fashion the factors affecting the local economic condition. Your conclusion response for this section should also include: a. What are the strengths of this city based on the information provided? b. What are the weaknesses of this city inferred from the information provided, or do you see anything else in the information that could be a concern for financial sustainability over the long-term that is not mentioned? This section can or should be a primary focal point of the entire assessment report. It should range between 300 and 400 words. Some cities will not have a good informative section of this nature. In those cases, the student will need to search more of the document to find it. 5. What are some other basic city demographic data not necessarily included in the CAFR Introductory area (population by race, crime statistics, unemployment rate, education levels, etc.) Based solely on the hard data available, do you think the city makes a conscientious effort to achieve social and economic equity? You must use the following link to answer these questions to the extent possible. (200 – 300 words) https://www.city-data.com/city/ Just go to www.city-data.com/city and enter the state and then the city you want to find. This is an excellent website for professional or personal use. 6. What type of “opinion” has the city’s auditors issued . Click on the following link for guidance: https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/audit-report-types/ 7. What is the city’s General Fund net position (you add 000’s if necessary) and what is the ratio of equity to total assets – divide total .

1. 2
Assessing Financial Condition
Instructions:
you must use and cite at least two of the following articles as
optional reading:
Brown, K. (1993) The 10-point test of financial condition:
Toward an easy to use assessment tool for smaller cities,
Government Finance Review, 9(6): 21 – 26.
Chaney, B. Mead, D., and Schermann, K. (2002) Financial
reporting model: What it means for analyzing government
financial condition. The Journal of Government Financial
Management, 51(1): 26 – 31.
Feng, M., Li, C., and McVay, S. 2009. “Internal Control and
Management Guidance,” Journal of Accounting and Economics
(48:2/3), pp. 190-209.
Hendrick, R. (2004) Assessing and measuring the fiscal health
of local governments – Focus on Chicago suburban
municipalities. Urban Affairs Review 40(1): 78 – 114.
Jimenez, Benedict. (2009). Fiscal Stress and the Allocation of
Expenditure Responsibilities between State and Local
Governments: An Exploratory Study. State and Local
Government Review. 41(2). 81-94.
Rose, S. & Smith, D. (2012). “Budget Slack, Institutions, and
Transparency.” Public Administration Review, 72 (2): 187-195
1. Select a city to analyze other than those you used for the
CAFR and OS assignments.
2. Please provide a summary of the city’s profile (100-150

2. words)
3. Briefly discuss the form of government and the structure of
the elected officials (100-150 words).
4. Discuss in summary fashion the factors affecting the local
economic condition. Your conclusion response for this section
should also include:
a. What are the strengths of this city based on the information
provided?
b. What are the weaknesses of this city inferred from the
information provided, or do you see anything else in the
information that could be a concern for financial sustainability
over the long-term that is not mentioned?
This section can or should be a primary focal point of the entire
assessment report. It should range between 300 and 400 words.
Some cities will not have a good informative section of this
nature. In those cases, the student will need to search more of
the document to find it.
5. What are some other basic city demographic data not
necessarily included in the CAFR Introductory area (population
by race, crime statistics, unemployment rate, education levels,
etc.) Based solely on the hard data available, do you think the
city makes a conscientious effort to achieve social and
economic equity? You must use the following link to answer
these questions to the extent possible. (200 – 300 words)
https://www.city-data.com/city/
Just go to www.city-data.com/city and enter the state and then
the city you want to find. This is an excellent website for
professional or personal use.
6. What type of “opinion” has the city’s auditors issued . Click
on the following link for guidance:
https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/audit-report-types/
7. What is the city’s General Fund net position (you add 000’s
if necessary) and what is the ratio of equity to total assets –
divide total net position by total assets and display as a %.
8. Does the city’s General Fund display a relatively diverse
revenue mix or is it too concentrated in one or a few main

3. sources – any one category of 30% or more may be a concern–
50-100 words.
9. What department or category consumes the largest amount of
General Fund appropriations (expenditures in the case of a
CAFR)? Does this present any challenges or inequities in your
opinion? (note: this may be a key area for addressing the
adequacy of social equity efforts) (100-200 words).
10. Discuss in summary form, the auditor’s analysis of the
city’s overall financial condition. This section must include but
is not limited to:
a. The presence and condition of enterprise funds (business
activities such as water, sewer, etc. – may not be applicable for
all cities).
b. Bonded debt ratings
(100 to 200 words).
11. Incorporation of any other thoughts, analyses, etc, for the
remainder of the CAFR and the demographic data obtained from
city-data.com. (actual financial statements, key departments,
funds, or large line items where actual expenditures exceeded
budgeted appropriations) – 100 to 200 words.
12. Overall summary and conclusion – 100 - 200 words.
Note: The overall assignment estimated word length is 1150 to
1,900 words which equates to approximately 5 to 8 double
spaced pages. This does not include the cover page, abstract, or
reference list – or any attachments.
· As a Paper format
· Cover page, abstract, main body and references
· Page number in the right corner
· APA citation
Discussion Board to answer:

4. The DSM IV-R used a multi-axial system and a Global
Assement of Functioning Scale to
diagnose and asess level of fucntioning respectively. In the
DSM 5, all mental health diagnoses
are now under section 2 and level of functioning is left up to the
World Health Organization
Disability Assessment Schedule. After reading the notes from
course content on the changes
between the IV_R and the DSM 5, talk about which of those
changes you feel is better and
which you feel maybe should have been left
Respond to Classmate 1:
After reading the notes from course content on the changes
between the DSM IV_R and the
DSM 5, talk about which of those changes you feel is better and
which you feel maybe should
have been left?
I am new to the DSM-IV-R and the DSM-5. So, I had to go back
and look at the DSM IV-R. I
believe the DSM-5 is a great tool for diagnostic criteria and its
text are primarily designed to
assist clinicians in conducting clinical assessment, case

5. formulation, and treatment planning. If
you were trained during the era of DSM IV-R you would have
used the multi-axial system and a
Global Assessment of Functioning Scale a assess level of
functioning to diagnose clients. To me
it looks like the DSM-5 should be easier to navigate through
and it is less confusing. Subtypes
have been replaced with presentation specifiers. It Creates a
common language between
clinicians and easier to diagnose clients. Examples is the
verbiage in diagnose between the
simultaneous presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in
a patient is now just one. Like
Anxiety disorders - The criteria that individuals over the age of
18 realize that their anxiety is
excessive and unreasonable has been eliminated for Specific
Phobia and Social Phobia. Slide 27
New Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder for children up to
18 years of age addresses the
overdiagnosis of bipolar disorder in children. This is a good
change, now children won’t be over
medicated and labeled.
However, I am on the fence about Autism Spectrum Disorder

6. which now encompasses the old
DSM IV diagnoses, Autistic disorder (Autism) Asperger’s
Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative
Disorder, Rhett’s Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
They all share similar symptoms,
they have different symptoms, but they are not all the same.
Some are said to be genetic and
some are neurological, but they all have issues functioning
socially. In my opinion the GAF
(Global Assessment of Functioning Scale) should still be used
for diagnosing like PTSD OR
DEPRESSION. Sometimes a person is dealing with a traumatic
event during a period of time not
for a lifetime and the GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning
Scale) would allow for a clinician
to observe the client for about 90 days to see if the symptoms
have decreased or increased.
Reference
Alli. (2018, November 11). Pervasive development disorders:

7. What are they? Retrieved May 29,
2020, from https://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/development-
disorder
Bhandari, S. (2018, May 20). Asperger's syndrome: Symptoms,
Tests, diagnosis, and treatment.
Retrieved May 29, 2020, from
https://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/mental-health-aspergers-
syndrome
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm–5).
(n.d.). Retrieved May 29, 2020,
from https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm
Goldberg. (2017, February 07). Chronic depression (dysthymia):
Symptoms, treatments, and
more. Retrieved May 29, 2020, from
https://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/chronic-
depression-dysthymia#2
Respond to Classmate 2:
This is my second semester of graduate school and the last time
I saw the DSM was before 2008

8. when I completed my B.S in Psychology. According to our
notes in course content the changes
were made in order to create a more homogeneous and
scientifically valid and reliable set of
criteria for diagnosis. The criteria for individual disorder
definitions in the DSM-5 have been
subjected to scientific review and field testing for reliability.
Increase comprehensibility and
utility. Formerly high rates of comorbidity across axes, creating
an overuse of the NOS criteria.
There were other changes listed in the notes as well. From what
I read it appears that the changes
are to make it easier and clearer to diagnose a patient. Also the
changes made were to help those
who are diagnosing to communicate better with other
professionals.
I feel that the changes which are better are the ones that relate
to communication Disorders. It
appears that previously it was a broad and two category disorder
(phonological disorder and
stuttering). Now it is the language disorder and contains: speech
disorder, child-onset fluency
disorder and social (pragmatic) communication disorder. The
last one is new and it related to

9. persistent difficulties in the social uses of verbal and nonverbal
communication. I think this was
a change to the positive as it allows for an additional category
that was severely lacking before. It
also seems to identify the disorders better and makes it easier to
communicate about them. It is
also apparent that some disorders were moved to different
sections or they have been separated
into individual disorders. The restructure makes more sense to
me and I feel that it makes for a
clear diagnosis and it is less broad. I also liked that panic
attacks can now be listed as a specifier
that it applicable to all DSM-5 disorders. The biggest change
for me that I am impressed by was
the Trauma related and stress disorders section. The fact that
PTSD and acute stress disorder
have been removed from anxiety disorders and moved to the
new chapter is monumental. I am a
police officer and have personally seen and experienced PTSD.
I feel that research and
understanding in this area is evolving and growing rapidly.
People are taking this serious and it
shows in the restructure of the DSM-5.

10. I am still very new and trying to understand the material. What I
found confusing or was better
left along was the range of severity. It seems to be very broad
and could affect those with severe
issues. Having mild symptoms could allow someone to take
advantage of a diagnosis. In my
profession I see where people take advantage any way they can,
you give them an inch and they
take a foot. I would hope with better understanding of the DSM-
5 my opinion on this part will
change or that maybe I am interpreting this through life
experiences and not through an unbiased
opinion.