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Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements
For the year ended December 31, 2014
[tabular amounts in thousands of dollars]
17
City of Surrey
1. Significant accounting policies (continued)
j)
Non-financial assets
iv) Intangible assets
Intangible assets, including works of art and historic assets are not recorded as assets in these
financial statements.
v) Leases
Leases are classified as capital or operating leases. Leases that transfer substantially all the
benefits and risks incidental to ownership of the property are accounted for as capital leases
and the related asset and obligation are recorded on the statement of financial position.
All other leases are accounted for as operating leases and the related lease payments are
expensed as incurred.
vi) Inventories of supplies
Inventories of supplies held for consumption are recorded at the lower of cost and
replacement cost.
k) Use of estimates
The preparation of financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions
that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets
and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and
expenses during the period. Significant estimates include assumptions used in estimating contributed
tangible capital assets, developer contributions, useful life for amortization, provisions for accrued
liabilities, contingencies and in performing actuarial valuations of employee future benefits.
Actual results could differ from these estimates.
l)
Segment disclosure
A segment is defined as a distinguishable activity or group of activities of a government for which it
is appropriate to separately report financial information to achieve the objectives of the standard. The
City of Surrey has provided definitions of segments used by the City (note 1(a)) as well as presented
financial information in segmented format (note 21).