Component units in Miami-Dade County's CAFR are legally separate entities financially accountable to the county, often connected through governance structures like a commission system or council-elected executive system. Their inclusion in the CAFR ensures accurate financial representation of the county's responsibilities and relationships.
In the context of the 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for Miami-Dade County Government, component units are legally separate entities for which the county is financially accountable. Generally, these units are included in the county's reporting entity because of the significance of their operational or financial relationships with the county. To identify if a particular entity should be considered a component unit, one would evaluate if the county can impose its will on that entity, if there is a potential for the entity to provide specific financial benefits to or impose financial burdens on the county, or if the entity's fiscal dependency on the county is such that the county's exclusion would make the financial statements incomplete or misleading.
Examples of component units could include separate government organizations like housing authorities, transportation districts, or hospital authorities, which are not part of the primary government entity but are connected to it through fiscal responsibility or governance structures like a commission system, council-elected executive system, or a council-administrator system. These structures, such as the commission system which is an elected commission serving as the governing body, provide a mechanism for operational oversight and control. The specific component units of Miami-Dade County would be detailed in their CAFR, and an in-depth review of that document would be necessary to list them all and fully understand the reasons for their inclusion.