Authoritative standards encourage governments to issue their basic financial statements in the broader context of an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). The ACFR supplements the basic financial statements with:

• Introductory information
• Information on individual funds and discretely presented component units
• Schedules necessary to demonstrate compliance with finance-related legal and contractual provisions
• Statistical data

The purpose of the government's financial statements is to report the combined financial position and results of operations of the primary government (including its blended component units) and provide an overview of the discretely presented component units.