Government Finance Review

Governmental Accounting Standards Board Chairman Tom Allen - Interview Tom Allen was appointed chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) in July 1995. Allen began his career as a state auditor in Utah in 1973. He believes that one of the most notable achievements of the GASB in its first 10 years is the establishment of its credibility in setting accounting standards. He believes that the GASB's most pressing concern is to finish the financial reporting model project. Al...

Are subsidies worth it?: How to calculate costs and benefits of business incentives.

Chicago, Illinois - Includes related articles The Chicago Dept. of Planning and Development asked the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Urban Economic Development (CUED) to develop a method by which the city government can calculate the costs and benefits of business incentive packages in 1992. The city government was under criticism at the time for not offering more incentives to catalog clothing firm Spiegel, whose departure caused the loss of over 1,000 jobs in the city. The ...

Beyond the headlines: the reality of public investing.

The Government Finance Officers Assn. and the MBIA Insurance Corp. conducted a survey of over 1,300 governmental agencies in the US and Canada in 1995 to determine government investment managers' response to the bankruptcy of the Orange County investment pool. The results show that most government investment managers have conservative investment practices. Most of them prefer short-term investment horizons, do not invest in derivatives and do not leverage funds for investment, indicating that...

Building a better budget through trust and communication.

Topsail Beach, North Carolina Topsail Beach, NC, was in good financial condition when it hired a new town manager in 1991. The town manager designed and implemented a modified budget to improve the town's already solid financial status. He did it by simplifying the budget to enable the board of commissioners to make better-informed decisions, reformatting the budget to turn it into a work plan for the fiscal year, encouraging the board to conduct program-based review instead of line-item rev...

Congress focuses on changes in securities laws.

The 104th Congress is convinced that current securities laws and regulatory activities hamper US firms' ability to attract capital negatively affects their global competitiveness. Congress is thus considering proposals to revamp the SEC, reform securities litigation laws and allow the preemption of state securities laws. These proposals will dilute the protections and remedies in securities trading to the detriment of public investments.

Ingredients of a reinvented government.

Excerpt from 'Local government in Canada, 4th ed.' Tips to help municipal governments reinvent themselves are presented. First of all, the view that a municipal government is a political entity should be de-emphasized, while the idea that government is an extension of the community should be emphasized more. Municipal governments should determine what services and programs are needed in their jurisdictions, but as much as possible should allow the private sector to deliver those services and...

Investment policy and recommended practices.

Government Finance Officers Association The Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) Committee on Cash Management has produced a sample investment policy for local and state governments to help GFOA members prepare investment strategies for short-term operating funds. This is the latest addition to the GFOA's recommended polices, which in the past also tackled collateralization of public funds, precautions on mutual fund investing, selection of investment managers and other issues re...

Mission, management, and service delivery: integrating strategic planning and budgeting in Milwaukee.

Wisconsin The planning and budget process of Milwaukee, WI's municipal government is presented. The process, which was established in 1993, is called 'System '94: Mission, Management, and Service Delivery.' Its aim is to integrate strategic planning and budgeting to ensure that government expenditures truly address the city's most pressing concerns and give results that people can appreciate. The process was applied for the first time in making the city's 1994 budget.

Program performance management: a self-assessment/review checklist for managers.

Australia's Financial Administration and Audit Act of 1985 and the Public Sector Management Act of 1994 formally established the accountability of the Western Australian State public sector for program performance management. To fulfill this management function, the Western Australian Treasury Dept. produced a handbook entitled 'Program Performance Management - A Guide for Managers.' The handbook contains a checklist of program performance planning, resource management, performance monitoring...

Reporting model proposal.

Governmental Accounting Standards Board The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued for comment in June 1995 the preliminary views of a reporting model proposal entitled 'The Governmental Financial Reporting Model: Core Financial Statements.' This is a combination of two different proposals to improve the current reporting model which were issued for comments in 1994. The GASB will accept comments on the preliminary views document up to Oct. 31, 1995.

The Guide to Economic Indicators, 2nd ed.

The Internet: what's it good for, anyway?

Usefulness to state and local finance officers State and local finance officials will benefit a lot from the use of the Internet. The Internet addresses and the contents of Internet sites of the Census Bureau web site, the US House of Representatives web site and the Dept. of Commerce web site are given as these are the most useful to government finance officials. The Internet's advantages over other means of obtaining information include speed, 24-hr. availability and greater accessibility ...

The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education.

The president's agenda.

Government Finance Officers Association President Timothy H. Riordan The plans of Government Finance Officers Assn. (GFOA) Pres. Timothy H. Riordan are presented. Riordan plans to strengthen the assistance provided by the GFOA to professional government finance managers in the areas of budgeting, training, technology and best practices. In explaining why he chose these areas, he mentioned that there is a need to set higher standards for government budgeting, which he considers as the linchpi...

The value of an investment oversight committee.

Government investment management Local finance officials Conny Jamison, Ronald J. Hill and Edward T. Alter discussed the operations of the investment oversight committee in their jurisdictions and emphasized the importance of such committees in ensuring that no unnecessary risks are incurred in the investment of public funds. Jamison is the city treasurer of San Diego, CA, Hill is the director of finance in Normal, IL, and Alter is the state treasurer of Utah.

Trustworthy Government: Leadership and Management Strategies for Building Trust and High Performance.

Women and their retirement income: will it be enough?

Studies have shown that the majority of working Americans have not begun saving for retirement, although the majority also believe that they will not encounter financial difficulties after retirement. Social Security, employer-sponsored pensions and personal savings are the three important sources of retirement income for individual Americans. Studies have shown that women generally receive less Social Security benefits than men. Women and men enjoy the same advantages in employer-sponsored p...