Government Finance Review articles from December 2006

Government Finance Review archives from December 2006

Budgeting the NACSLB way.(from the editor)(National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting)(Editorial)
December 1, 2006... The National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting firmly established the concept that budgeting is much more than an annual funding allocation process. NACSLB provided four guiding principles for placing budgeting within an integrated,...

Wireless considerations.(News & Numbers)(municipal provision of wireless internet)(Report)
December 1, 2006... The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a report, "Municipal Provision of Wireless Internet," noting the possibility of competitive risks arising from municipal participation in wireless Internet service and offering guidance to...

Correction.(Correction notice)
December 1, 2006... In the October 2006 issue of Government Finance Review, the article "Staying on Track, Crafting a Capital Program Reporting System" misidentified the software Primavera as a MS product. It is produced by an independent company.

A positive note on states' healthcare spending.(News & Numbers)(Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured's report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... A recent study from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured indicates that state revenue growth in FY 2006 exceeded Medicaid cost growth for the first time since the late 1990s. The report presents the findings from a survey of...

New trends in government.(News & Numbers)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Governments are being challenged to perform in different ways as the times change. A new report from the IBM Center for the Business of Government identifies six trends that are transforming government today. * Trend One: Changing the...

Technology for shared services.(News & Numbers)(global survey)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... In August 2006, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) queried 127 public sector executives on the opportunities and challenges entailed by using shared services in government. The scope of response was global, with Western Europe leading the...

The people speak.(News & Numbers)(voters decide on taxes and eminant domain)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... In early November, Americans across the country not only voted for representation but registered their opinions on other governmental actions. Major tax cuts, along with tax and spending limits on the ballot in six states all failed. Voters in...

A private sector solution for an enduring public sector problem?(ONLINE BUDGETING TECHNOLOGY)(corporate performance management helps government in budgeting)(Cover story)
December 1, 2006... Budgeting has been traditionally one of the most difficult of government business processes for technology to support. Each government's budget process is distinct, making it a challenge for vendors to develop one software solution that will...

City of Torontos' long-term fiscal plan.(Government Finance Officers Association's Award for Excellence in Government Finance )
December 1, 2006... Editor's note: In 2006, the City of Toronto received GFOA's Award for Excellence in Government Finance in the budgeting and financial planning category for its long-term fiscal plan. Much has been said about a government's need for a...

Note to budget professionals: policy analysts support policy and operational decision making.
December 1, 2006... Citizens continue to expect more public services with the same, if not fewer resources, so public sector professionals increasingly are managing for results and greater efficiency. This means they are looking more comprehensively at policy and...

Effective budget management: take a fresh look at your workforce.
December 1, 2006... Once a year, organizations produce a realistic operations budget and constituent approval from voters, elected officials, and department managers. However, acceptance of the annual budget is only one benchmark for success. Managing the budget...

An exercise in cost saving: carsharing.(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
December 1, 2006... Fleet reduction programs can generate large cost savings for municipal governments, but they will not be successful unless expectations and behavior of the fleet users' change. For example, in one city, an employee of the street department's...

Managing ERP after go-live: who owns the system? Oakland County, Michigan, manages ongoing ERP system upkeep and development through a collaborative governance model.(Best Practices)(Enterprise resource planning)
December 1, 2006... After an enterprise resource planning computer system goes live, the government must transition from a project mode of operation to ongoing maintenance and support, where members of the project team begin to refocus on their former job duties...

Building relationships and reaching your potential: the opposite of networking is not working. In other words, if you are not making connections and nurturing the relationships you have developed, you are "not working.".(Management & Careers)
December 1, 2006... Networking is one of the most overused and misunderstood words in common vocabulary today When you hear the word networking what comes to mind? * Getting something from someone else * Using others * Coercion * Manipulation...

Best practices for capital project analysis: decision makers need to analyze a proposed capital investment from many perspectives before committing to the project.(Solutions)
December 1, 2006... WHY ANALYSIS OF CAPITAL PROJECTS IS IMPORTANT Decisions regarding capital projects can have important impacts on the fiscal health of communities for a variety of reasons. By definition capital projects are big-ticket items that represent...

2006 retirement roundup and insights for 2007: public sector pension plans may come under scrutiny from Congress during 2007.(Federal Focus)(Pension Protection Act of 2006)(Law overview)
December 1, 2006... Despite active campaigning for the 2006 mid-term elections, members of Congress spent significant time this year considering important changes in the areas of pension and retirement. In 2007, finance directors and pension professionals can...

GASB re-examines Fund Balance Reporting and Definitions of Fund Types: the Governmental Accounting Standards Board is looking for feedback on possible modifications to fund balance reporting and governmental fund type definitions.(The Accounting Angle)(Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
December 1, 2006... In late October, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) released an invitation to comment (ITC) document on Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions. The new ITC suggests possible changes to the definitions...

Best of breed examples: guidelines for your government budget.(The Bookshelf)(Preparing High Quality Budget Documents)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Preparing High Quality Budget Documents John Fishbein Government Finance Officers Association www.estoregfoa.org 2006, 270pp $45, GFOA members $70, nonmembers The GFOA's recently released publication Preparing High...

Calendar.(Calendar)
December 1, 2006... [state association events] December North Carolina Local Government Budget Assn. December 6-8 Pinehurst, NC www.sog.unc.edu/organizations/budget/ January Nevada GFOA January 28-30 Sparks, NV www.ngfoa.org February ...

A little financial training goes a long way: state and local agency directors and other senior officials can be proactive to ensure that they are aware of the financial situation in their agency.(Commentary)
December 1, 2006... When I was a state budget officer, a department head called me one afternoon in a panic. The fiscal year end was months away, but his agency had already spent too much and he was going to have to lay off employees to make ends meet. I was so...