Government Finance Review back issues from August 2007:
We can make a difference.(president's message)
Aug 01, 2007; ... As an individual with both U.S. and Canadian ancestry, it is an honor to serve as your new president. I look forward to leading the GFOA into its second century of fulfilling its mission of enhancing and promoting the professional management of governments for the public benefit. ...
GAO predicts budget challenges ahead for state and local governments.(News & Numbers)(Government Accountability Office)
Aug 01, 2007 ... For more than a decade, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has warned of an impending severe structural deficit for the federal government, driven above all by rising costs in Medicare and Medicaid but also by the sheer size of the Baby Boomer wave of retirement and its effect on ...
Meet your new president-elect and executive board.
Aug 01, 2007 ... The GFOA is governed by an 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-elect. At the association's annual meeting in Anaheim, California, in June, members voted ...
Spotlight on financial performance: 2007 Annual Conference recap.(Conference news)
Aug 01, 2007 ... The GFOA held its 101st Annual Conference in the City of Anaheim, California. More than 4,100 delegates were in attendance at the Anaheim Convention Center, June 10-13, making this year's conference the largest gathering of finance professionals in the GFOA's history. The ...
Government finance in the trenches: standing committees update.(Government Finance Officers Association)
Aug 01, 2007 ... More than 175 GFOA members volunteer their time and expertise to be a part of the GFOA's standing committees. Each committee concentrates on a particular discipline within government finance. The members of each committee bring their experience to the table to help craft GFOA recommended ...
Innovations in managing public funds: benchmarking and total return.(Cover story)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Like most local governments, the City of Los Angeles, California, spent years looking under every budgetary rock in search of more funds for police and fire protection, education, parks, community services, and other important projects. But in 2001, Los Angeles discovered a way to better ...
From cash to card acceptance: transforming routine transactions into extraordinary opportunities.
Aug 01, 2007; ... Leading government entities are taking advantage of quickly evolving electronic payment trends to improve revenue collections while reducing costs, particularly through the latest solutions designed for PINless debit and electronic check conversion. Taxes, child support, commutation fees, ...
Creating and using a revenue manual: a dynamic tool for analysis.
Aug 01, 2007; ... The landscape of local government revenue presents an assortment of challenges and opportunities for public finance officials. The traditional role of the public finance officer has expanded to include fiscal facilitator to local government officials, emissary to citizens, and information ...
Municipal Way-Fi.
Aug 01, 2007; ... Since 2003, the hype and hyperbole surrounding municipal Wi-Fi systems for broadband Internet access has been inescapable. City after city, counties, even consortia of jurisdictions have hopped on the bandwagon to jumpstart wireless initiatives. Fueling this frenzy, numerous Internet ...
Liquidity assessments: an alternative financing option for variable-rate debt.
Aug 01, 2007; ... An environment of volatile and very high interest rates in the late 1970s and early 1980s led to significant innovations in the municipal debt markets that remain operative today For municipal bond investors, volatile interest rates: translated to the risk of severely depressed asset ...
Auditing from a citizen's point of view: the citizen's perspective is often overlooked in traditional audit of government programs. Incorporating the citizen's perspective, where relevant, can make audits a more effective tool for change.(Best Practices)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Governments provide programs and services. Auditors look at how well those programs and services are delivered. Often overlooked in a traditional audit is the citizen's perspective: how well and how easily do the programs and services meet the needs of the citizens who use them? ...
City Management Institute: a blueprint for leadership succession: the City of Sacramento's City Management Institute helps it identify and groom future city leaders.(Management & Careers)
Aug 01, 2007 ... The City of Sacramento, California, is the state capital and was founded in 1849, and is the oldest incorporated city in the state. It is a city council-city manager form of government, with eight separate council districts. The population is approximately 450,000, with a budget of $964.6 ...
Capital project cash flow management: using these tools to manage capital project cash flows can increase investment earnings, reduce borrowing costs, and prevent potentially embarrassing and frustrating cash flow problems.(Solutions)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Last minute changes in payment schedules on capital projects can be among the most frustrating and unpredictable complicating factors in effective municipal cash management. Capital projects are by definition big ticket items that have a major impact on municipal finances; consequently ...
Supreme court watch: judiciary decisions often impact state and local government finances.(Federal Focus)
Aug 01, 2007; ... In each term, the United States Supreme Court is petitioned to consider a number of cases that have a significant impact on the policy, management, and finances of state and local governments. The Supreme Court accepts very few cases for review. However, when the Court agrees to hear cases ...
Selling or pledging future cash flows: guidance from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board on selling or pledging future cash flows must be implemented starting with fiscal years that end December 31, 2007.(The Accounting Angle)
Aug 01, 2007; ... In September 2006, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued GASB Statement No. 48, Sales and Pledges of Receivables and Future Revenues and Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets and Future Revenues. The new standard offers authoritative guidance on: * Accounting for ...
Time-Driven activity-based costing.
Aug 01, 2007; ... Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing Robert S. Kaplan and Steven R. Anderson Publisher: Harvard Business School Press www.HBSPress.org 257 pages, 2007; $45 In the 1980s Kaplan developed activity-based costing (ABC) as a way to measure and link an organization's costs to the goods ...
gfoa events.(Government Finance Officers Association)(Calendar)
Aug 01, 2007 ... <Pre> August Minneapolis, Minnesota 20 Accounting for Pensions and Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) 20-21 Budgeting for Budget Analysts 20-21 Economic Development for Finance Officers 21 Enterprise Fund Accounting 22 Understanding and Calculating ...
State association events.(Government Finance Officers Association)(Brief article)(Calendar)
Aug 01, 2007 ... September Illinois GFOA September 7-11 Springfield, IL www.igfoa.org Michigan GFOA September 9-12 Traverse City, MI www.migfoa.org Ohio GFOA September 11-13 ...
What transformational leaders do: leading a public organization through change requires the executive to find a way to invest significant time, energy, and political capital in the change process.(Commentary)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Much has been written about the attributes of leadership. Ability to communicate a vision, courage, and integrity are surely qualities of great leaders. Our experience studying the transformation of public organizations is teaching us that, in addition to qualities like these, successful ...