A "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report" or "CAFR" is a
government book keeping practice which started in the post WWII
economic boom and replaced what was regularly an "off-the-books"
practice called the "general fixed asset account group" . The
various levels of government; "general government" or the federal
United States, individual state governments and government agencies
each began producing a CAFR in the late 1940s to early 1950s to
catalog an accurate picture of institutional funds, or financial
holdings, assets and total investment incomes for those government
and non-governmental entities using the report, which is above and
beyond the budget process. In 1945, the Government Corporation
Control Act, began the auditing of wholly owned government
corporations and mixed ownership corporations,( those that
government may have controlling holdings in but operate as private
corporations) all of which may come under the term "enterprise
funds".
While a budget might indicate that the government or agency has
financial trouble and debt, (because of excess spending within the
select grouping of "general fund" accounts presented), the CAFR will
normally indicate that government possesses large holdings
considerably over what is shown in a budget report or "general fund"
alone.
| 
