Office of the Comptroller Issues Fiscal Year 2021 Statutory Basis Financial Report
Today, Comptroller of the Commonwealth William McNamara filed the Statutory Basis Financial Report (SBFR) for Fiscal Year 2021, the period that ended June 30, 2021.
The SBFR focuses primarily on the budgeted funds of the Commonwealth. The report highlights revenue and spending influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the accompanying influx of federal funding to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Said Comptroller William McNamara, “The Statutory Basis Financial Report is a fair and accurate reporting of the Commonwealth’s funds based on activity during the fiscal year. I commend our staff, as well as our partners throughout state government, for their commitment to accurately reporting on the health of state finance during this extraordinary time. I am pleased to note that thanks to the action of the Legislature in completing the final supplementary budget process earlier, we are issuing this report weeks earlier than in the previous two years. We will work for further improvement in the delivery date.”
Highlights of the report include:
- A consolidated net surplus of $1.460 billion (as defined by Chapter 29 of the Massachusetts General Laws as the undesignated or unreserved balances in the budgeted funds subject to the state’s annual appropriations process)
- A Fiscal Year 2021 operating gain of $7.804 billion in the budgeted funds, (compared to a $335 million operating gain in Fiscal Year 2020) due primarily to strong growth in tax revenue and receipt of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding
- A budgetary fund balance of approximately $12.099 billion at fiscal year-end
- Budgeted fund tax revenue totaling $31.772 billion, representing an increase in budgeted fund tax revenues of $4.159 billion, or 15.1%
- The certification of the Commonwealth Stabilization (“Rainy Day”) Fund balance at $4.626 billion at fiscal year-end, representing an increase of approximately $1.125 billion from the end of Fiscal Year 2020
The Statutory Basis Financial Report has been posted at https://www.macomptroller.org/sbfr.
The statutory (or budgetary) basis of accounting is defined by Massachusetts General Law and does not conform to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) as defined for governments by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. The Office of the Comptroller will report the Commonwealth’s financial position on a GAAP basis in the forthcoming Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), which is currently in preparation.
The SBFR is prepared annually by the Office of the Comptroller and reviewed by the Commonwealth’s independent Certified Public Accountants, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP. This report meets the statutory requirement in Massachusetts General Laws c. 7A, § 12 to present fairly the results of the prior fiscal year’s activity in the Commonwealth’s funds, to compute and certify the balance in the Stabilization Fund, and to disclose and report certain aspects of financial performance as directed by statute.
About the Office of the Comptroller
The Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is an independent and apolitical overseer of governmental and other funding sources, totaling more than $76 billion in Fiscal Year 2021. In addition, the Office of the Comptroller oversees the Commonwealth’s expenditure, payroll management, and major audit functions.
As stewards of the public trust, we aspire to inspire confidence by maintaining our core principles: clarity, integrity, and accountability.
The powers and obligations of the Office of the Comptroller are generally dictated by M.G.L. c. 7A.