Government Finance Review

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

YieldAdvantage: bringing efficiency to GFOA members: the process of investing funds can be time-consuming and labor intensive. G
As a member-driven association, GFOA supports state and local government finance officers in the professional financial management of the governments they serve. GFOA accomplishes this by identifyin . . .

How much retirement can you afford? As retirement approaches, financial planning shifts from resource accumulation to resource u
With the leading edge of the 77 million strong baby boomer generation within three years of Social Security and six years of Medicare eligibility, the press has been paying noticeably more attention . . .

Optimizing funds with cash flow forecasting: by involving operating departments in planning and prioritizing organization-wide s
In a study published in the August 2003 issue of Government Finance Review, 51 percent of the government finance professionals surveyed indicated a need for further developing their forecasting skil . . .

Priming the revenue pump: Little Rock's business license collection program.
One of the realities of local government finance is that taxpayers are reluctant to increase tax rates to fund government operations. Another is that natural revenue growth often does not generate t . . .

The road to fiscal sustainability: five principles of effective financial planning.
Many different organizations have promulgated best practices for the government finance profession, including the International City Managers Association (ICMA), the National Advisory Council for St . . .

Navigating the municipal bond market.
With debt issuance continuing to reach peak levels, local governments--particularly small to midsize issuers--are being bombarded with information and inquiries about opportunities in the tax-exempt . . .

Auction rate securities: a primer for finance officers.
The auction rate securities market has expanded significantly in the public finance sector since 2001. Nationwide, issuance of auction rate securities, including the public finance sector, grew from . . .

Understanding municipal derivatives.
The derivatives market for municipal market borrowers has been steadily growing since the market's inception in the mid-1980s. A significant number of state and local governments, ranging from many . . .

The Central Post Office: making your life easier and the market more efficient.
Providing financial information to bondholders after the original issuance remains a confusing exercise for many state and local governments. However, a new initiative greatly facilitates the disclo . . .

Letter to the editors.(Letter to the Editor)
As always, I looked forward to my latest edition of the Government Finance Review from the GFOA, but did not expect to be utterly entranced by it! As I opened it and promptly went to the feature on . . .

NYC receives highest ever rating from Standard and Poor's.
Standard and Poor's has raised its rating on New York City's more than $32 billion of general obligation debt outstanding to A+ from A--the highest rating Standard and Poor's has ever assigned to th . . .

Stale-dated checks ripe for fraud, investigation finds.
A recent investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland has uncovered a novel type of fraud whereby local governments are recruited to be unwitting co-conspirators in their . . .

Meet your new president-elect and Executive Board members.
GFOA is governed by the 18-member Executive Board, which consists of 15 members-at-large serving staggered three-year terms, the current president, the previous year's president, and the president-e . . .

Expanding the Frontiers of Government Finance: 2005 annual conference recap.(NEWS & NUMBERS)
Downtown San Antonio and its famed river served as an ideal setting for GFOA's 99th annual conference, which was one of the best-attended conferences in our history. More than 7,800 attendees gather . . .

Predictive leadership for a rapidly changing world.(president's message)
As your new president, I look forward to working with you and sharing ideas about the future of our profession and GFOA. I am honored by this appointment and consider this a great time to serve you . . .

After 30 years--burning impatience.(Commentary)(Reprint)(Column)
Pass the 30-year mark writing the country's first national column focused on state and local government--as I did [in February]--and what do you feel? My answer: burning impatience. Here's this . . .

Calendar.(Calendar)
[gfoa events] June San Antonio, Texas (Pre-Conference Seminars) 24 DROPS, PLOPS, and Other- Post-Employment Benefits: Designing Programs that Don't Break the Bank 24 Making the Case: Practical G . . .

Delivering services via network-based partnerships.(book)(Book Review)
Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector Published by Brookings Institution Press www.brookings.edu 2004; 224 pages, $18.95 With increased expectations on government to provi . . .

Auditor involvement with official statements and Web sites: GFOA believes that as a general rule, state and local governments sh
The story of the audited financial statements does not necessarily end when a government releases its annual financial report. Governments frequently desire to incorporate the audited financial stat . . .

10 Years of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act: ten years after its adoption, most agree that the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act has
In 1995, after two years of one of the most effective and aggressive joint lobbying efforts by organizations representing state and local governments, (1) Congress passed and President Bill Clinton . . .

Help wanted--miracle worker to manage ERP project: finding the right person to manage a technology project is a critical success
What qualities does a project manager need to successfully manage an ERP implementation? Who should we select as our project manager? Whether I am teaching GFOA's ERP acquisition and implementation . . .

10 tips for creating a public sector leadership development program: changing demographics an impending "brain drain," and a nee
The Winter 2004 issue of Public Personnel Management focused on one of the hottest issues facing today's public sector human resources professionals: workforce and succession planning. Numerous agen . . .

Taking charge of your fund structure: the use of unnecessary funds in external financial reports needlessly adds to the length a
Generally accepted accounting principles define fund as a "fiscal and accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts ... which are segregated for the purpose of carrying on specific activit . . .

Work pressure: get control before it controls you.
We all know what it is like to feel as though pressures at work are going to kill you. We have faced impossible deadlines. We have run full steam ahead to tackle unbearable workloads. We have juggle . . .

Achieving government transformation through ERP systems.(Enterprise Resource Planning)
Editor's note: This article is adapted from a forthcoming GFOA book entitled Enabling Technologies for Government Transformation: ERP and Beyond. The authors are co-editors of this book. The publi . . .

Sweden's Kommuninvest financing cooperative: proving that the best financing solutions are created together.(Kommuninvest)(Compa
Municipalities around the globe differ in many respects, but one thing most of them have in common is a desire to obtain the best possible financing terms so that public funds can be directed to the . . .

Ontario's municipal performance measurement program: fostering innovation and accountability in local government.
Emerging from a period of reform in the municipal environment, the Ontario government in 2000 launched mandatory performance measurement program for municipalities in the province. The Municipal Per . . .

The UK'S CIPFA FM model: financial management and effectiveness in public service organizations.(Chartered Institute of Public F
High-performing organizations consistently demonstrate strengths in leadership, financial management, and performance management. This article focuses on the contribution of financial management to . . .

NLC: federal tax reform must not harm local governments.(News & Numbers)
Officials from the National League of Cities in April urged caution when overhauling any aspect of the tax code that would eliminate deductions for state and local taxes and exemptions for municipal . . .

New releases.(book)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
Internationally renowned facilitator and public participation consultant James L. Creighton offers a practical guide to designing and facilitating public participation in environmental and public po . . .

Philadelphia going wireless.(News & Numbers)
Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street announced in April the details of a plan to provide wireless Internet access throughout the city. Developed by the 17-member Wireless Philadelphia Executive Committ . . .

Revenues exceeding forecasts, but states still treading water.(News & Numbers)
While most states report that revenues are surpassing estimates, spending pressures for K-12 education and Medicaid continue to plague state budgets. This is the finding of the latest survey of legi . . .

IRS study: gap in tax collections exceeds $300 billion per year.(Internal Revenue Services)
The preliminary results of an Internal Revenue Services study of compliance with the tax laws show that the gross tax gap--the difference between what taxpayers should pay and what they actually pay . . .

Global information sharing.([from the editors])
In carrying out its mission to "enhance and promote the professional management of governments for the public benefit," GFOA does not confine itself to the United States and Canada. Best practices i . . .

Fiscal integrity: political dead letter--or not?(Commentary)
Does fiscal integrity still matter in America? Not in politics, it seems: We just finished a presidential election in which neither candidate could even say how he'd return us to balanced federal . . .

Calendar.(Calendar)
[gfoa events] April Columbus, Ohio 18 Preparing a CAFR 18-19 Costing and Competitive Options for Government Services 18-19 Advanced Governmental Budgeting 19-21 Intermediate Governmental . . .

Watching out for the alligators: Risk Management for fiduciaries.(Book review)(Book Review)
Risk Management for Pensions, Endowments, and Foundations Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. www.wiley.com 2005; 268 pages; $69.95 Risk. The word itself arouses images of danger and proble . . .

From internal control to enterprise risk management.(Internal control on financial reporting)
In September 2004, the Council of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting issued Enterprise Risk Management--Integrated Framework. The new publication i . . .

Proposed budget and tax proposals take aim at state and local governments.(Federal Focus)
The fiscal year 2006 budget proposal President Bush submitted to Congress February 7 is one of the leanest funding proposals in recent presidencies. Coupled with several tax reform proposals now und . . .

Serving as a budget reviewer a win-win situation.(Solutions)(Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program)
While many financial professionals participate in the Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program by submitting their entity's budget for consideration, far fewer realize that becoming a volunt . . .

Winning the war for talent: Part II--some solutions.(Management & Careers)
How well-equipped is your organization to meet the workforce challenges created by massive retirements and a shrinking pool of workers? In the February issue, Part I of this series focused on the di . . .

Developing a financial trends report.(Best Practices)(government finance)
Those desiring to analyze the financial health of a government often refer to the wealth of data found in the government's comprehensive annual financial report. However, most of the information fou . . .

Home improvement changing government business processes for good with the help of technology.(Technology investments for effecti
Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series on enterprise financial system optimization. The first installment examined why public sector ERP implementations often do not live up to expec . . .

Consumer-driven health care: will it take hold in the public sector?
Each decade seems to bring a "shift of gears" in how health care is administered in the United States. The 1960s saw the creation of Medicaid and Medicare. The 1970s witnessed the movement of large . . .

Peering into the future: emerging issues in governmental accounting.(financial management)
The landmark issuance of Statement 34 and related guidance clearly did not signal the end of a need for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. To the contrary, in the dynamic and ever-changing . . .

Governmental Accounting Standards come of age: highlights from the first 20 years.(Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposa . . .

Making the most of the new Blue Book.(Governmental Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Reporting)
The 2005 edition of Governmental Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Reporting--or the "Blue Book" as it is commonly known--incorporates the many significant developments in state and local governme . . .

Report card a mixed bag for state governments.(News & Numbers)
State governments have shown mixed success in weathering the worst financial storm since World War II, in which plunging revenues have coincided with surging costs. Some states have been successful . . .

Rockefeller Institute: states and localities off critical list, still in intensive care.(News & Numbers)(government spending)
While tax revenues are finally rebounding from the dramatic declines precipitated by the 2001 recession, continued spending pressures and the risk of federal policy changes mean state and local gove . . .

Survey: more governments using new cash management technologies for payments.(News & Numbers)
A new survey by GFOA and JPMorgan Chase shows that while nearly all state and local governments accept payments via mail or in person, more than half now accept automatic bank debits and more than a . . .