Winter Committee Meeting Update.(table)(Brief Article)

On January 30-31, the GFOA's annual Winter Meeting for the Standing Committees was held in Washington, D.C. With more than 175 members in attendance, the event was a great success. Many issues were addressed throughout the two-day event during individual committee meetings, the Women's Network, the Black Caucus, the Technology Resource Group's meetings, and the general sessions. The New Member Luncheon brought together more than 20 new committee members, representatives from the GFOA Executive Board, and committee chairpersons and vice-chairpersons. The GFOA evening reception had approximately 100 guests from the Washington, D.C., public finance community in attendance, alongside GFOA standing committee members.

Speakers from the Internal Revenue Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, and the National Federation of Municipal Analysts visited the committees and discussed issues of importance to GFOA and its members. Additionally, the Women's Network and Black Caucus held meetings to discuss their efforts to increase membership, gain a more significant presence within GFOA--especially via the GFOA Web site--and outlined plans for their June meetings at the annual conference.

GFOA's President, Anne Kinney, released the results of the Technology Resource Group's Technology Survey at the general session breakfast. Following her remarks, the event's keynote speaker, Dr. Rudolph Penner, Senior Fellow and Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Public Policy at the Urban Institute and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, delivered his remarks regarding the state of the economy.

Dr. Penner began his remarks about the status of the economy, which he views as superb, despite the fact that the surplus projections are incredibly uncertain and Congress will use up a significant portion of the surplus over the next few years. State and local governments still will benefit from the nation's robust fiscal health. Dr. Penner suggested that recent public opinion polls have shifted and that people prefer a tax cut instead of paying off the debt. Chairman Greenspan added fuel to the fire by commenting that he too favors tax cuts, and even the Democrats are now commenting that they wish to adopt some type of tax cut, although not as large as the one being proposed by the Bush administration. Dr. Penner cautioned the audience to be aware that the budget forecasts are subjective. Figuring out a cumulative surplus over the next 10 years is difficult when giving equal weight to both the years 2001 and 2011. However, despite the uncertainty that the surplus could be zero or $12 trillion over the next 10 years, Dr. Penner remains optimistic about the economy and believes Congress will increase appropriations for grants to states and localities. On the subject of Internet sales taxation, Dr. Penner stated that he believes a far more serious problem for the sales tax is the failure in many states to tax large portions of services, the fastest growing component of the economy.

Committee Meeting Summaries

Committee on Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Reporting (CAAFR). The Committee on Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Reporting (CAAFR) began preliminary discussions of topics included in its strategic plan for the development of recommended practices. These topics included accumulating the information needed for infrastructure reporting and preparing an effective accounting policies and procedures manual. CAAFR considered other topics for potential recommended practices that will require joint development with other standing committees. They plan to work with the Committee on Governmental Budgeting and Management on the topics of recommended level of fund balance and the appropriate use of cost data and to work with the Committee on Governmental Debt and Fiscal Policy on the subject of ratio analysis.

CAAFR also considered its formal response to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) recent exposure draft on the governmental financial reporting model entitled, Basic Financial Statements--and Management's Discussion and Analysis--for State and Local Governments: Omnibus, an amendment of GASB Statements No 21 and No. 34. The purpose of the proposed omnibus pronouncement is to clarify certain provisions of GASB Statement No. 34, Basic Financial Statements--and Management's Discussion and Analysis--for State and Local Governments, to ensure consistent implementation among governments. Also, the ED proposes to amend other provisions of that Statement to ensure that their implementation produces results that are consistent with the GASB's intentions.