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Processes and Policies

Fund Structure

Purpose
The City’s accounts are organized based on funds and account groups, each of which is considered a separate
accounting entity. The operations of each fund are accounted for with a separate set of self-balancing accounts
comprised of assets, liabilities, fund equity, revenues, and expenditures or expenses as appropriate.

Governmental Fund Types

Governmental funds are used to account for the majority of the City’s activities and are comprised of the general,
general debt, and special revenue funds.

General Fund:
The general fund is the primary operating fund of the City. It is used to account for all financial resources except
for those required to be accounted for in another fund. The primary revenue sources are non-exchange revenues
such as taxes and accounted for on a modified accrual basis.

The general fund is first subdivided into individual departments to account for functional and program activities.
The departments may be further divided into divisions to account for greater detail; for example, Police
Department and then the Police Traffic Division.

General Debt Service Fund:

The debt service fund is used to account for principal and interest payments on the City’s long-term, tax-supported
debt.

Special Revenue Funds:

Special revenue funds are used to account for the proceeds of specific revenue sources that are legally restricted
to expenditures for specified purposes.

Proprietary Fund Types

Proprietary funds are used when the City charges customers for services it provides to recover the costs of
providing the services. This group includes both enterprise and internal service funds.

Enterprise Funds:
Enterprise funds are used to account for operations that are financed and operated as private businesses. The
goal of the City is that the costs (expenses, including depreciation) of providing the service are recovered through
user charges. The primary customers are citizens or outside entities; for example, a homeowner who receives
water service. The City of Fort Worth has five enterprise funds.

Internal Service Funds:

Internal service funds are used to account for operations that are operated as a private business but the primary
customers are internal departments. The City of Fort Worth has five internal service funds.

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