Series 50: Statement Of Activities

Statement of Activities

The goal of a statement of activities is to show the change in a government’s net assets over the course of a year. It also allows an analyst to see how self-sufficient individual government programs are; that is, how much of a program’s cost is covered by the revenue it generates.

The statement shows a program’s expenses first and then program revenues. On the right side of the statement is the difference between the two, namely, program revenues minus expenses. This is often referred to as net expense or net revenue. Negative values are indicated by parentheses.

For example, on the statement below, consider Goodville’s public safety program. The statement shows that the program costs $40 million. It generated a total of $6 million in revenue, which leaves a net expense of $34 million.

Overall governmental activity and business-type activity exp