At the close of each year, the Finance Department closes the books and the outside auditing firm comes in to review the Village’s operations. Once the audit is completed, the financial statements are issued. The financial statements present the Village’s financial position and results of operation as of and for the period ended on the date of the statements.

All financial statements begin with the independent auditor’s opinion on the financial statements. This opinion letter spells out the Village’s responsibility as well as the auditor’s responsibility in regard to the statements. It also states that the Village’s financial statements are fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Following the auditor’s opinion, comes the Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD & A) of the financial statements. This is a narrative summary of the year’s operations and includes charts and graphs to emphasize the highlights.

After the MD & A, come the government wide financial statements. These present the overall picture of the Village of Sussex in a style more common to commercial businesses. General operations of the Village are called “Governmental Activities” and the operations of the utilities are called “Business Type Activities”. Details are provided for the various individual funds that are considered major funds as well.

The notes to the financial statements follow the government wide statements. The notes provide details for items shown in total within the government wide statements. They also provide information showing how individual fund statements are changed to arrive at the government wide statements.

The final section of the financial statements presents supplementary information. One schedule here is the comparison of the actual General Fund results with the General Fund budget. There are also details provided for smaller funds that are carried forward in total to the government wide statements.

In addition to the annual audit, Village staff prepares an Annual Report to the Citizens that highlights our financial statements in a way that is more easily understood.