In BOTH your answers, address how encumbrances affect the expenses and expenditures.

1.

What is the distinction between expenditures and expenses as the terms are used in governmental accounting?

2.

A government expects to pay its electric bill relating to its current fiscal year sometime in the following year. An official of the government requests your advice as to whether the anticipated payment should be charged as an expenditure of the current or the following year. How would you respond?