Government Finance Review articles from June 2001

Government Finance Review archives from June 2001

GFOA and the Blue Book.(Review)
June 1, 2001... The focus of this issue of Government Finance Review is the release of the latest version of GFOA's classic Governmental Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Reporting (GAAFR), known to many simply as the "Blue Book." As described elsewhere in...

Muni Bond Issuance Up in 2001.(long-term municipal bonds)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... An exponential increase in refunding activity fueled by lower interest rates pushed long-term municipal bond volume up by 43.5 percent in the first quarter of 2001. Total issuance volume was $58.4. billion, compared to $40.7 billion in the same...

Court Allows Affirmative Action Ban to Stand.(United States Supreme Court)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... The U.S. Supreme Court stayed out of a dispute over a Georgia county's affirmative action program for awarding county contracts. The Court, without comment, turned down Fulton County's argument that a lower court went too far in issuing a...

Miami-Dade Public to Pay for Campaigns.(Florida to change law on election financing)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... Miami-Dade County, Florida, taxpayers will begin partial financing of mayoral and county commission elections as a way to reduce the cost of campaigns and lessen the influence of wealthy contributors. The measure, which imposes limits on how...

More States Automate DMVs.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... Thirty states were offering at least one online motor vehicle service, such as vehicle registration renewal or license plates, as of January 2001, up from 13 in December 1999, according to a survey by the consulting firm Accenture. Fifteen...

School Districts Combine Health Policies.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... The Dallas and Houston school districts will search together for employee health insurance under a plan approved in March. The districts--the two largest in Texas--formed the partnership to find an insurer before the Dallas Independent School...

Illinois Wants to Say Goodbye to Tollways.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... Tollways would be converted into freeways over two decades, but tolls would increase in the short term under a reform package that the Illinois governor unveiled. The first tollbooth would be razed within a year or so, and the plan culminates...

Droughts Creating "Water Ranches".(Texas)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... Throughout the country, drought and population growth have placed a premium on water. In Texas, water has become so valuable that a complicated scramble is under way for the rights to underground aquifers. There are even "water ranches"...

Census Shows Rust Belt Cities Getting Smaller.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... While unusual growth in older cities such as Chicago and New York captured headlines, U.S. Census Bureau figures show a number of big cities became smaller between 1990 and 2000. Despite the booming economy of the 1990s and a vaunted urban...

1929 All Over Again?(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... As the Nasdaq hits new lows, stock charts are being faxed and e-mailed around Wall Street comparing the index's 68 percent dive to the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 87 percent collapse preceding the Great Depression. No one expects a...

Californians Prepare For Summer Blackouts.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... Under pressure to give more notice before pulling the plug, California's power grid managers have proposed issuing alerts a half-hour before blackouts and forecasting the likelihood of outages a day in advance. The proposal heartened business...

Survey Gives Nation's Infrastructure a D+.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... From its roads to its dams and schools, America's public works are crumbling and putting lives at risk, according to a study from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The group gave the nation's public works a "D+" on average, and estimated...

Then and Now: 65 Years of the Blue Book.
June 1, 2001... By examining the history of GFOA's Blue Book on accounting, auditing, and financial reporting, this article provides an overview of the background behind governmental accounting organizations, guidelines, and principles. This year the...

Overview of The New Blue Book: GAAFR 2001.(Governmental Accounting Standards Board's new Blue Book)
June 1, 2001... GAAFR 2001--the new Blue Book--is a definitive guidance masterpiece. This 680-page multi-purpose all-in-one book of timely, understandable, comprehensive, and practical guidance is the "must have" book for governmental accounting, reporting,...

GAAFR 2001--A Conversion Tool for GASB 34.(Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
June 1, 2001... This article focuses on how to use the new Blue Book as a guide to converting fund financial information to government-wide information as required by GASB Statement No. 34. Can you answer the following govern mental financial reporting...

Fiscal Futures: Toward a System of Public Finance for the 21st Century.
June 1, 2001... As modern governments struggle with outmoded public-finance systems, the overriding challenge becomes developing a new system that meets the current and future needs of local government. The task begins with the difficult question of "where to...

Strategies for Passing a Bond Referendum.
June 1, 2001... This article highlights successful approaches for passing bond referenda in state and local communities. Two case studies of successful initiatives are provided as examples. When a state, county, or community identifies the need for...

Risk Management: A Primer for Finance Officers and Public Managers.
June 1, 2001... This article provides an overview of modern risk management as practiced in the public sector. Risk is a fact of life and a fact of government. To accomplish any major public policy goal and any financial goal-building a new municipal...

Strategy and Benefits of Outsourcing Accounting Systems.
June 1, 2001... The City of Hurst in North Central Texas has embarked on a remarkable journey to transition its accounting systems from an in-house, primarily paper-based environment to an online powerhouse. Not only is the intent to update and automate the...

Technology for Managing Your Most Valuable Asset.
June 1, 2001... The benefits that finance officers derive from installing new enterprise systems to handle accounting, purchasing, and other key financial functions have been wellpublicized. But technology also has provided new opportunities to reduce...

Creating an Investor Relations Program.
June 1, 2001... With a population of more than 650,000, Jefferson County is Alabama's most populous county. The county is home to Birmingham-Alabama's largest city-and is the principal center of finance, trade, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, and...

Legislative Outlook for 2001.(United States congress)
June 1, 2001... The first half of 2001 has seen increased legislative activity by a new administration and a closely divided House and Senate. With the Senate evenly divided, the Republicans enjoying a slim majority in the House (220-210-2-3 [as of 4/15/01]),...

Securities Law for Municipal Finance Advisors: A Compilation.(Review)
June 1, 2001... Doty, Robert W. Sacramento, California: American Governmental Financial Services Company, 2000, 2001. (1,000 pp; 3 Volumes) Investment banking firms and other financial entities often undertake diverse roles in municipal financing...

Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment.(Review)
June 1, 2001... Swensen, David F. New York, NY: The Free Press (366 pp) Pioneering Portfolio Management, written by Yale University's Chief Investment Officer, provides novel views on how to implement a long-term investment program and is sure to be...

"Benchmarking and Cost Accounting: The North Carolina Approach".(Review)
June 1, 2001... Rivenbark, William C. and Carter, K. Lee Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting, & Financial Management, Spring 2000, pp. 123-137. The North Carolina Local Government Performance Measurement Project (NCLGPMP) was designed to allow...

"Performance Measurement in State Budgeting: Advancement and Backsliding from 1990 to 1995".(Review)
June 1, 2001... Lee, Robert D. Jr. and Burns, Robert C. Public Budgeting and Finance, Spring 2000, pp. 38-53. The authors of this article examine the use of performance measures among states between 1990 and 1995. A national survey of state practices...

"Growth at the Ballot Box: Electing the Shape of Communities in November 2000".(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... Myers, Phillis and Puentes, Robert The Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, February 2001 During the November 2000 elections, 533 growth-related measures were considered by voters. These ballot measures were...

"What Drives Productivity Growth?".(analysis of growth theories and their influence in productivity)(Review)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... Stirob, Kevin Economic Policy Review, March 2001, pp. 37-50. In this article, the author examines the neoclassical and "new growth" theories and their roles in explaining the recent rise in productivity growth. Labor productivity...

"Local Revenue Hills: A General Equilibrium Specification with Evidence from Four U.S. Cities".(essay)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2001... Haughwout, Andrew; Inman, Robert; Craig, Steven; and Luce, Thomas National Bureau of Economic Research's NBER Working Paper Series, March 2000. Though the idea that increasing tax rates can actually lead to decreased total revenue...