Host a Site for this Year’s GAAP Update
Keep your colleagues up to date and educate junior staff on the latest developments in accounting and financial reporting. Set up a site in your area and save on travel expenses. Join the GFOA on Thursday, November 6, 2008, at 1 -5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time for our 13th Annual Governmental GAAP Update satellite teleconference.
Host site information, including details on the GFOA’s revenue sharing program and frequently asked questions, are posted on the GFOA’s Web site. For additional information, please contact the GFOA at satellite@gfoa.org.
Through the years, tens of thousands of accounting and auditing professionals have participated in this training opportunity at sites across the country.
New sites are posted to the Web as they become available. Participants can go the GFOA’s Web site to sign up for the location most convenient for them.
Attend GFOA’s July Training Seminars in Denver, Colorado
The GFOA is hosting training in Denver, Colorado, July 14-17, 2008. Join us for one or more of the following seminars:
- Enterprise Fund Accounting
- Effective Budget Presentation
- Managing your OPEB Liability
- Planning and Sale of Municipal Bonds
- Capital Budgeting and Infrastructure Finance
- Advanced Performance Management
- Advanced Financial Reporting for Governments.
View course descriptions and register to participate at GFOA's Web site.
Address Fiscal Constraints with this Useful Guide
In An Elected Official’s Guide: Intergovernmental Service Sharing author John Ruggini discusses types of shared services, the advantages of intergovernmental cooperation, and strategies for overcoming barriers to implementing shared-service arrangements.
Research shows that the concept of shared services—which has been around for more than 30 years—is a practical alternative to privatization for maintaining service levels and lowering costs for governments. Upcoming changes in your department—employees retiring or advances in technology, for example—might provide opportunities for restructuring the way services are delivered in your jurisdiction.
This 53-page guide contains useful tips for developing an effective intergovernmental agreement and explains how to ensure success in a shared-services initiative. It also examines examples of successful arrangements, so you can see what worked, and why.
Visit the GFOA’s e-store to purchase your copy.
House Passes Favorable Legislation on Employer-Provided Cell Phones and 3 Percent Withholding Provision
On Wednesday, April 16, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation, H.R. 5719, that would eliminate the need for employers that provide employees with cell phones to maintain detailed and onerous records of personal calls. Current IRS Rules, which were set in 1989, mandate that all employers (including governments) track all personal calls made on an employer-provided cell phone (or PDA). Due to changes in technology and pricing models over the past 19 years, adhering to this rule has become terribly cumbersome for employees and employers alike.
H.R. 5719 also provides for a one-year delay—until January 1, 2012—in the implementation of a 3 percent withholding requirement on government payments for goods and services. The provision, which was included in the 2005 Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act, mandates that state and local governments that spend more than $100 million per year on goods and services must withhold 3 percent of the payments made to vendors and contractors, and remit that 3 percent to the federal government. The GFOA is also working to have the provision repealed.
The GFOA, along with other state and local government organizations, signed a letter supporting these legislative efforts.
GFOA President Cox Sends Letter to Moody’s on Global Scale Ratings
In response to Moody’s call for comments about global scale ratings (GSRs), GFOA President Charles Cox wrote a letter expressing support for GSRs. Moody’s initiative comes at a time when members of Congress and participants in the municipal market are questioning the reasoning for two separate credit rating scales—one for municipal securities and one for corporate securities. Cox notes that the two systems have created misunderstandings in the marketplace and supports the development of global scale ratings. GSRs would provide issuers of municipal securities with access to a rating that is comparable to ratings of corporate securities.
The GFOA has noted that Moody’s and other rating agencies have documented that the default rate on municipal securities is significantly lower than that of corporate securities. For this and other reasons, Cox notes that municipal securities issuers should be provided with a global scale rating, in addition to the municipal securities rating—at no additional cost.
Senate Passes Housing Measure
In an effort to address the country’s housing crisis, the Senate approved legislation that would expand the authority of the Federal Housing Administration by allowing it to insure home loans up to $550,000. The measure, the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, passed on April 10 by a bi-partisan vote of 84-12. It provides $4 billion in Community Development Block Grant funding for cities to purchase and rehabilitate vacant and foreclosed properties, as well as $10 billion in new tax-exempt bond authority for state and local housing agencies to refinance subprime loans. It also creates a new standard deduction on real property taxes for those who do not itemize their tax deductions (up to $500, or $1,000 in the case of a joint return). The bill stipulates, however, that if a state or local government raises property taxes between April 2, 2008, and January 1, 2009, its taxpayers may not claim this new standard property tax deduction.
In addition, the legislation provides $150 million for pre-foreclosure counseling, $30 million for legal service attorneys to assist borrowers, a tax credit of $7,000 for buyers who purchase foreclosed property within the next year, and three years of tax breaks for money-losing businesses such as homebuilders, amounting to a total of $25 billion for that period.
The House of Representatives is still ironing out its housing measure, which is likely to be considered in May. However, the House has already expressed its opposition to several provisions of the Senate’s bill—in particular, the $25 billion in tax breaks for certain businesses—while supporting efforts such as Community Block Grant Funding, new bonding authority for state and local housing authorities, and pre-foreclosure counseling, that assist state and local governments.
GFOA Black Caucus Holds Second Web Chat
The GFOA Black Caucus held its second Web chat on April 2, 2008. It focused on “Internal Controls: The New Auditing Environment.” Web chat participants discussed Statement on Auditing Standards Nos. 103-112, the impact these standards are having on governments, and the preparations governments are undertaking to comply.
A transcript of the Web chat and some accompanying documents can be found on the GFOA Web site.
Obituary: William R. Snodgrass, Former Executive Board Member Passes Away
Former Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury and former GFOA Executive Board member William R. Snodgrass, 85, recently passed away after a short illness. Snodgrass served on the GFOA’s Executive Board from 1980 to 1983. He also served on the executive committees of the National Conference of State Legislators from 1974 to 1975 and the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers from 1975 to 1980. In addition, he served as a member of the board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation from 1990 to 1995. Snodgrass was Tennessee’s comptroller of the treasury from 1955 to 1999, and he is the state’s only constitutional officer to have received emeritus status when he retired.
Budget Awards Program Reaches Record Participation
The Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards program has added more than 100 new participants in each of the past two years. This brings the total number to a new record of more than 1,200 participants. For more information about this program, go to the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award Program (under Awards Program) on the GFOA’s Web site.
Distinguished Budget Award Winners
Congratulations to the following first-time recipients of the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award: City of Aventura, FL; City of Belleair Beach, FL; Citrus County Board of Commissioners, FL; Hillsborough Transit Authority, FL; City of Lake Alfred, FL; City of Lakeland, FL; Miami-Dade County Aviation Department, FL; Orange County Clerk of the Courts, FL; City of Parkland, FL; City of Seminole, FL; City of Sunny Isles Beach, FL; City of Jerome, ID; City of Forest Lake, MN; City of Grand Forks, ND; City of Clayton, OH; City of Powell, OH; Brownsville Public Utilities Board, TX; City of Taylor, TX; Town of Westlake, TX; Village of Bayside, WI.
CAnFR Winners
The Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario, was missing from the previous Newsletter’s listing of winners of the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting (CAnFR) for the fiscal year ending in 2006.
Popular Annual Financial Reporting Awards
The GFOA’s Popular Annual Financial Reporting Program is designed to encourage governments to prepare and issue annual financial reports specifically tailored to meet the needs of citizens and others without specialized expertise in accounting and financial reporting. These reports are intended to supplement, rather than replace, comprehensive annual financial reports.
Jurisdictions interested in receiving more information about the award, or individuals interested in serving as reviewers for the program, should contact Jim Phillips in the GFOA’s Chicago office (312/977-9700).
Jurisdictions that received the GFOA’s Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award for the fiscal year ended in 2006 are listed on the GFOA's Web site.
Enclosures:
Training Opportunities
Calendar
Upcoming Training in May
Detroit, Michigan
| May 19 |
Evaluating Internal Controls |
| May 19 |
Accounting for Capital Assets |
| May 19-20 |
Best Practices in Budgeting |
| May 20 |
Preparing a CAFR |
| May 21-22 |
Advanced Investing Public Funds |
| May 21-22 |
Financial and ERP System Acquisition and Implementation
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| May 21-23 |
Advanced Governmental Accounting |
GFOA Annual Conference
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Preconference Seminars
Upcoming Training in July
Denver, Colorado
State and Regional
Calendar
May 1-2: New Hampshire GFOA
North Conway, NH. Contact: www.nhgfoa.org
May 4-7: Pennsylvania GFOA
State College, PA. Contact: www.gfoa-pa.org
May 4-10: Montana Municipal Clerks, Treasurers, & Finance Officers Association
Billings, MT. Contact: www.mlct.org
May 5: South Carolina GFOA
Columbia, SC. Contact: www.gfoasc.com
May 7-9: Alaska GFOA
Palmer, AK. Contact: www.agfoa.com
May 7-9: Louisiana GFOA
Marksville, LA. Contact:www.lagfoa.org
May 15-16: Illinois and Wisconsin GFOA
Janesville, WI. Contact: www.wgfoa.org
May 17-21: Florida GFOA
Jacksonville, FL. Contact: www.fgfoa.org
May 21-23: MFOA of Ohio
Dublin, OH. Contact: www.omlohio.org
May 21-23: Virginia GFOA
Virginia Beach, VA. Contact: www.vgfoa.org
May 21-23: British Columbia GFOA
RIchmond, BC. Contact: www.gfoabc.ca
May 22-23: Kentucky GFOA
Barren State Park, KY. Contact: www.kygfoa.org
Employment
Opportunities
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