Government Finance Review articles from December 2008

Government Finance Review archives from December 2008

Leadership makes a difference.(from the editor)
December 1, 2008... Leadership can be difficult to define, but everyone knows when it's needed. As the economy worsens and balancing the budget becomes increasingly difficult, government finance officers are being asked to provide fiscal leadership. This issue of...

City of Vancouver, B.C., a top 100 employer and leader in green initiatives.(News & Numbers)
December 1, 2008... The City of Vancouver was chosen as one of Canada's Top 100 employers by a publisher of employment guides and job-hunting periodicals. The list recognizes employers that offer outstanding work environments, based on eight criteria: physical...

Local government pension plans as well funded as state plans.(News & Numbers)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Pension plans administered by local governments have funding strategies that are as good as or better than those of state plans, according The Funding Status of Locally Administered Pension Plans, the eighth issue brief on retirement plans by...

The role of leadership in building high performing, sustainable organizations.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Despite the current economic situation, all is not doom and gloom for public-sector managers. There is an alternative to slashing services, laying off employees, and raising fees, There are proven performance...

Leading the way to fiscal health.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Those who choose a management career in government finance find themselves in the unenviable position of being the visible public steward over monies entrusted to their organization by taxpaying citizens to support...

Maricopa County's employee health-care initiative.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A major concern for finance officers is how to significantly and continuously reduce the organizations medical expenditures and simultaneously increase employees' satisfaction with their health-care benefit. Maricopa...

Public stewardship: building a long-term funding policy for infrastructure maintenance.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The City of Denver's Public Stewardship for a City Beautiful initiative was one of the Government Finance Association's 2008 Awards for Excellence winners. Throughout the United States, critical public...

City fiscal conditions from Main Street to Wall Street.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The authors, who wrote the National League of Cities' City Fiscal Conditions in 2008, adapted the report for Government Finance Review. The annual survey report was released in September 2008. The recent...

The power of we: using shared actuarial services to implement GASB 45: the Actuarial Shared Services Project provides Texas local government with access to hihg-quality low-cost actuarial valuations, without the need for writing individual RFPs.(Best Practices)
December 1, 2008... When it comes to Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 45, Accounting and Financial Reporting by Employers for Post Employment Benefits Other Than Pensions, Texas is best known nationally for H.B. 2365, a controversial...

Effective management in troubled times: members of the Florida Benchmarking Consortium have joined forces to develop common performance measures for their highest-priority local government services..([PM.sup.2] Connections: PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT & MANAGEMENT)
December 1, 2008... "In order to improve something, you have to change it. In order to change something, you have to understand it. In order to understand something, you have to measure it." (1) Local government leaders agonize over how to balance their...

Plano's management preparation program: Preparing the next generation of leaders: the City of Plano embarked on a methodical journey to ensure it would always have capable, qualified employees to consistently provide the level of service to which its citizens were accustomed.(Management & Careers)
December 1, 2008... The City of Plano, Texas, was confronting a problem that many jurisdictions face--planning an orderly transition to the city's next generation of leaders. A pending wave of retirements, combined with a lack of focused preparation, threatened to...

Bank on San Francisco: welcoming all citizens into the financial mainstream: cities are well-positioned to play a catalytic role in working work with banks, community groups, and other stakeholders to build an inclusive financial system. Bank on San Francisco is one attempt to address a serious, yet solvable, social problem.(Solutions)
December 1, 2008... The Bank on San Francisco program won the 2008 Louisville Award for Innovation in Government Finance. The Government Finance Officers Association gives this special recognition to acknowledge exceptional accomplishments that introduce new...

Washington addresses the credit crisis: in addition to creating the Troubled Asset Relife Program, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 also contains tax and other provisions of interest to state and local governments.(Federal Focus)
December 1, 2008... Efforts to kick-start the nation's credit markets came in the way of a $700 billion rescue measure signed by the president on October 3, 2008. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-343) is intended to help stabilize...

Final GASB guidance on derivatives: a number of arrangements that might otherwise qualify as derivatives have been excluded from the scope of GASB Statement No. 53.(The Accounting Angle)(Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
December 1, 2008... This past June, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) released Statement No. 53, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Derivative Instruments. The provisions of this new standard become mandatory for the fiscal year ending June...

Risky business.(Operational Risk Management: A Case Study Approach to Effective Planning and Response)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Operational Risk Management: A Case Study Approach to Effective Planning and Response By mark D. Abrowitz John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2008, 278 pages, $50 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Risk assessment is an important responsibility...

Calendar.
December 1, 2008... [gfoa events] January Newport Beach, California 12 Preparing a CAFR 12-13 Economic Development for Finance Officers 12-13 Advanced Investing Public Funds 13-15 Advanced Governmental Accounting 14-15 Advanced...

A push-pull strategy for change: one basic way to win followers is to articulate demand for change and put people in touch with their own discontent about the status quo.(Viewpoint essay)
December 1, 2008... Leadership is about winning followers. Do you sometimes encounter people who just don't get the need for change? Or who fail to see the benefits? Jim Chrisinger, who managed numerous reforms in Iowa state government, observes, "The fight...