2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)

October 31, 2019

The Honorable Mayor And Members of the City Council Greensboro, North Carolina

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the City of Greensboro, North Carolina for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, is submitted for your review. This report was prepared by the City's Finance Department and it is the comprehensive publication of the City's financial position and results of operations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, for all funds and component units of the City. Responsibility for both the accuracy of the presented data and the completeness and fairness of the presentation, including all disclosures, rests with City management. To provide a reasonable basis for making these representations, we have established a comprehensive internal control framework that is designed both to protect the government’s assets from loss, theft, or misuse and to compile sufficient reliable information for the preparation of the City of Greensboro’s financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP). Because the cost of internal controls should not outweigh their benefits, the City’s comprehensive framework of internal controls has been designed to provide reasonable rather than absolute assurance that the financial statements will be free from material misstatement. As management, we believe the data, as presented, is accurate in all material respects and is reported in a manner designed to present fairly the financial position and results of operations of the various funds and component units of the City. All disclosures necessary to enable the reader to gain an understanding of the City's financial activities have been included. The City is required by state law to have an annual independent financial audit. A compliance audit on federal and state financial assistance programs is also required under the Federal Single Audit Act of 1984, as amended, and the State Single Audit Implementation Act. Uniform Guidance has also been considered in these financial statements. The independent auditors’ report on the Basic Financial Statements is included in the Financial Section of this report. The independent auditor concluded, based upon the audit that the financial statements of the City of Greensboro present fairly in conformity with GAAP, in all material respects, the financial position of the City of Greensboro, North Carolina, as of June 30, 2019. In addition, the auditors’ reports, required as part of a single audit, are found in the Single Audit Section of this report. This report focuses not only on the fair presentation of the financial statements, but also on the City’s internal controls and compliance with legal requirements involving the administration of state and federal awards. GAAP requires that management provide a narrative introduction, overview, and analysis to accompany the Basic Financial Statements in the form of the Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A). This letter of transmittal is designed to complement the MD&A and should be read in conjunction with it. In conformity with the standards of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, this report includes all funds of the City, as well as all of its component units. Component units (blended or discrete) are legally separate entities, for which the City is financially accountable. Blended component units are, in substance, part of the City’s operations. The City has one blended component unit, the Greensboro Center City Corporation, reported in the Hotel/Motel Occupancy Tax Fund. Discretely presented component units are not considered to be part of the City’s primary operations and, therefore, are reported in total as a separate column to differentiate their financial position, results of operations and cash flows from those of the City. The Greensboro Housing Development Partnership, Inc., the Greensboro Redevelopment Commission, and the Greensboro ABC Board are presented as discrete component units. Additional information on the blended and discretely presented component units can be found in Note I. A.