GFOA's financial indicators database: benchmarking and other uses.

• Author: Tigue, Patricia
• Position: Government Finance Officers Association

Elected officials and public managers are frequently interested in how their jurisdiction is performing relative to comparable jurisdictions. A unique source of information that can be helpful in evaluating financial condition is the GFOA's Financial Indicators Database, a computer file of financial data collected each year from approximately 1,500 Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports/Component Unit Financial Reports (CAFRs/CUFRs) submitted to the GFOA's Certificate of Achievement Program. Among the data presented are operating results, fund balance, revenues, expenditures, debt position, and cash and investments. In order to facilitate making comparisons, a separate database has been developed for three types of jurisdictions--municipalities, counties and school districts. The jurisdictions included in each database do not constitute a random sample of governments; nonetheless, the database information can help governments compare their financial performance with that of similarly sized jurisdictions.

Recently, the GFOA released Fiscal Year 1991 data for its Financial Indicators Database. This release brings the total number of years for which data are available to three, including FY1989 and FY1990 data. This article summarizes some of the 1991 findings for municipalities; similar analyses could be performed for counties and school districts.

Selected FY1991 Municipal Indicators

Data from 1,065 municipalities are included in the Municipal Governmental Financial Indicators Database for FY1991. The distribution of jurisdictions in the sample by population size is as follows.

Municipalities Population size Number Percent [less than]10,000 169 15.9% 10,000-24,999 309 29.0 25,000-49,999 260 24.4 50,000-99,999 190 17.8 100,000-199,999 78 7.3 200,000-299,999 23 2.2 300,000-500,000 21 2.0 [greater than]500,000 15 1.4 Because of the small sample sizes and greater volatility in results for jurisdictions with more than 200,000 in population, caution should be exercised in interpreting results for jurisdictions in these categories. All financial information presented herein is based on the median value (the number halfway between the lowest and highest value) for each category of jurisdiction.

Overall Operating Results. Reported in total and per capita for the general fund, operating results are defined as total revenues plus operating transfers into the general fund, less expenditures and operating transfers out of the general fund. In FY1991, a...