The state of state and local finances

Snashots of the 50 states and large cities are being compiled by multiple organizations to highlight the situation of these entities.   Often the CAFR is the document being used in these reports.  http://www.governing.com/columns/public-finance/col-state-state-local-government-finances.html

Forbes ranks for 2012 the best States for business

The article provides a link whereby you can look up your state's ranking and the factors that went into this.  This is the 7th year this list has been in existence.   http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/12/12/utah-tops-list-of-the-best-states-for-business/

U.S. deficit falling- How could that be?

This article discusses the decreasing trend of the deficit as a % of GDP.  According to this article from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2012, the deficit shrank 3.1 percentage points.  http://news.investors.com/blogs-capital-hill/112012-634082-federal-deficit-falling-fastest-since-world-war-ii.htm

GASB encourages readiness

on the part of state and local governement official and pension system administrators regarding the implementation of the new pension requirements.   http://www.gasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=Document_C&pagename=GASB%2FDocument_C%2FGASBDocumentPage&cid=1176160498236

Medicare tax increases for those

who earn over 200,000 a year (this is just less than 1% on the amounts exceeding 200,000 of earnings, and is part of the 2010 health care legislation.   This article talks about the regulations that the IRS is putting into place related to the implementation on earnings after 12/31/12  http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/News/20126942.htm

What state is your state in?

Best run - worst run?   See the most recent results.  A number of indicators compiled for this annual survey  http://247wallst.com/2012/11/27/the-best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-a-survey-of-all-50/2/

Key performance indicators and NFPs

This article discusses an approach for nonprofit advisers  http://blog.aicpa.org/2012/11/using-kpis-to-become-a-trusted-npo-business-advisor.html#sthash.beJyF8oO.fMUyPhT9.dpbs

FASAB 2012 annual report

indicates its 3 year plan in this pdf   http://www.fasab.gov/pdffiles/annual_report_2012.pdf

The mission statement is highlighted at the Federal Accounting Advisory Standards Board (FASAB) website.  At this link you will find links to the prior two annual reports.  http://www.fasab.gov/about/mission-objectives/

Fitch warns of rating change

in late 2013 if U.S. government does not address some of the issues.  http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/economy/266571-ratings-agency-issues-post-election-warning

Sales and use tax issues

around collection are discussed herein.  http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2012/CorpTax/SalesUseTax.jsp

A tax calculator for your state

 is located here   http://www.totaltaxinsights.org/

An article that compares highest and lowest tax areas by jurisdictions is at this url http://247wallst.com/2012/10/23/states-where-residents-pay-the-most-in-taxes/

What % are Americans paying in state and local taxes.  The above tool helps one to investigate and compare.

Heather Brooke on TED Talks

She urges us to ask our leaders questions through platforms like Freedom of Information requests.  While her situation applied to Parliament, it is relevant to government everywhere.  She calls it a culture clash.

http://www.ted.com/talks/heather_brooke_my_battle_to_expose_government_corruption.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TEDTalks_video+(TEDTalks+Main+(SD)+-+Site

Data visualization and graphics

in government.  The idea is to improve transparency:  "By providing our data in a more engaging way, we can get people more interested," said Kei. "They can see the value of our statistics and become more educated on what we do at the IRS." 

See the presentations that were associated with this webinar and powerpoints   http://www.howto.gov/training/classes/data-visualization-and-infographics

The states that are struggling

with unfunded pensions.   Still struggling...  http://247wallst.com/2012/10/18/nine-states-with-sinking-pensions/

The wastebook

Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma published a wastebook of his noted instances of spending he identifies as wasteful   http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/congress-tops-coburns-2012-picks-wasteful-federal-programs/2012-10-17?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Atwater California

faces fiscal emergency.   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443493304578036781420348220.html?mod=djem_jiewr_AC_domainid

Rigged LIBOR impacts states and municipalities

who bought interest rate swap agreements before the financial crisis.  Impacted to the tune of billions.   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-09/rigged-libor-hits-states-localities-with-6-billion-muni-credit.html

Sales tax, Amazon, and Confusion

Some of the issues are laid out in this article http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2012/10/08/confused-by-amazon-taxes-youre-not-alone/

Yellowbook Standards

and what is required for CPE, as presented in an 11 minute video prepared by Leita Hart.   Also there is a writeup that describes the gist of her video.   She is fun to listen to though.  Thanks Leita for the work you do.    http://yellowbook-cpe.com/what-does-the-yellowbook-require

Contributions versus Exchange Transactions

for NFPs, explained by BKD.  This informaiton is the accounting pertaining to grants.   http://www.bkd.com/articles/2012/contribution-versus-exchange-transaction.htm

A look at 10 states as they try to address pensions

California and Illinois lead the pack with unfunded pension liabilities.  http://www.benefitspro.com/2012/10/08/10-states-where-the-public-pension-fight-is-fierce?ref=hp

GASB Chairman Robert Attemore

to retire next June.   He has been at the helm since 2004.
http://journalofaccountancy.com/News/20126560.htm

Strategic Performance Management in Public Sector

report is downloadable to look at some tools in this area. http://www.cgma.org/Resources/Reports/Pages/strategic-performance-management-public-sector.aspx

Stockton CA bankruptcy and

relationship to a bond deal related to paying the city's pensions.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/business/how-a-plan-to-help-stockton-calif-pay-pensions-backfired.html?_r=1

Fragmented local governments

A good source for data about numbers of governments by states, as well as historical growth of these governments. These are called special districts, or special purpose districts 
http://www.governing.com/blogs/by-the-numbers/local-government-consolidation-fragmentation.html

Illinois Illinois, what you gonna do?

"By the rivers gently flowing Illinois, Illinois; O'er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois,  Comes an echo on the breeze, Rustling through the leafy trees, And its mellow tones are these, Illinois, Illinois, And its mellow tones"......

are screaming "How are you going to address these fiscal issues"?    Standard and Poors  yesterday downgraded the bond rating with the fair state (described above in idyllic terms in our state song) - the state that has the worst pension funding of any other state, among a host of other problems.  That is my pension we are talking about, so I have no answers, only questions.   How to fix this?  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-29/illinois-debt-cut-by-s-p-after-lack-of-action-on-pension-funding.html

Nice summary of GASB pension changes

Thanks to BKD for this thorough and organized summary.  http://www.bkd.com/articles/2012/gasb-significantly-changes-pension-accounting-and-reporting.htm

Issues Facing Tax-Exempt Organizations

House Ways and Means Subcommittee Discusses; BKD summarizes the two hearings this summer. 

http://www.bkd.com/articles/2012/committee-on-ways-and-means-discusses-issues-facing-tax-exempt-organizations.htm

IRS focusing on UBIT in 2012

This short summary by the firm BKD is helpful update for Unrelated Business Income that some Nonprofits  may see come into focus this year.  http://www.bkd.com/articles/2012/irs-focuses-on-unrelated-business-income-for-2012.htm

AICPA recommended changes for 990 form

The documents shows the changes the AICPA would like to see to the nonprofit tax return form.  http://www.aicpa.org/interestareas/tax/resources/exemptorganizations/advocacy/downloadabledocuments/aicpa-08.16.2012-f990-instruct-cl.pdf

More California municipal bankruptcies

are likely ahead according to Moody's http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-08-17/moodys-more-calif-dot-cities-at-risk-of-bankruptcy

GASB moving "in the right direction"

according to David Walker, former U.S. Comptroller General in terms of the pension area.  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79821.html

NFP guide ready for comments

Made available by AICPA.  Comments are due by Oct 15, 2012  http://journalofaccountancy.com/News/20126226.htm

New Mexico Finance Authority scandal update

Terminating the contract to investigate, citing the state auditor can do this....however Moody's had originally stated an opinion of the benefit of that.   Transparency is an important consideration in this case.  http://accounting.smartpros.com/standard/IMA/IMA_0812c.html

Worrying about the post office

The Republicans plan reform  http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/1007-other/242269-lawmakers-uncertainty-over-post-office-finances-delaying-reform-bill

San Bernadino files Chapter 9

Since June 28, 2012 (in a period of just over a month) San Bernadino is the third California city to seek bankruptcy protection.   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-02/san-bernardino-california-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-2-.html

Fake audit - New Mexico Finance Authority

Did anybody notice the absence of the auditors?  http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2687502.shtml?cat=516

A signed audit report but no audit work was done.   Missing comptroller.  Lots of questions, not presently many answers

Amazon now collecting sale tax from Texans

Effective July 1, 2012http://www.statesman.com/business/starting-sunday-texans-will-have-to-pay-tax-2406966.html

GASB approves pension standard

to put unfunded pension liability on the balance sheet.   See this Journal of Accountancy article.   also references the Pew study of the 1.3 trillion dollar funding gap http://journalofaccountancy.com/News/20125927.htm

Pension Funding Task Force developing

guidelines to help governments in dealing with the pension changes from GASB.   http://www.bondbuyer.com/issues/121_113/gasb-standards-public-pension-fund-accounting-1040821-1.html

Sal Khan's MIT commencement speech

I know this is tangential to Governmental accounting, but I believe this speech is related to good living, and am including it here.   About halfway through, Sal tells the graduates some words of wisdom to consider in living.   I enjoyed his perceptions about political interactions, night sky, inspiration, and his thought experiment that he concludes with.   http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/commencement-khan-address-0608.html

OMB provides final draft of Circular

The 2012  OMB Circular A-133 Supplement draft has been provided so firms can begin planning their 2012 single audit engagements http://www.aicpa.org/InterestAreas/GovernmentalAuditQuality/Resources/OMBCircularA133/Pages/FinalDraft2012OMBCircularA-133ComplianceSupplement.aspx

IFAC CEO speaks

to worldwide government accounting reforms necessary, and taking an active stance.  http://opinion.publicfinanceinternational.org/2012/05/damned-lies-and-government-accounts/#.T8gjn8V2OuI

Check out your State's report card

Much data is available from this website.   Click and see how your state is doing.   Interesting dimensions included such as auditing, procurement, pension fund management, ethics, state budgeting.   http://www.stateintegrity.org/
Article highlights the concerns and absence of "teeth" in ethics laws and disclosures.   And yes there were some F's given. http://www.stateintegrity.org/state_integrity_invesitgation_overview_story

Social Capital and NFPs

Report from CGMA pertaining to performance measurement and management control systems in NFPs.
http://blog.aicpa.org/2012/05/creating-social-capital-for-not-for-profit-support.html

Illinois "Amazon" law found

unconstitutional; expectations are that it will be appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/News/20125681.htm

GASB 63 summary

GASB 63 has been effective since the end of 2011.   Notice a new name to a particular financial statement and different elements included in the statement (deferred inflows and deferred outflows).  This short summary form BKD highlights the changes therein.   http://www.bkd.com/articles/2012/gasb-issues-statement-number-63.htm

Rita Crundwell pleads Not Guilty

Pictures and story accessible from Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/rita-crundwell-dixon-illi_2_n_1497624.html

This tag to the Quad City archives has interesting pictures and related topics.  Including whether questions about some money had surfaced earlier.
http://wqad.com/tag/rita-crundwell/

As covered by the Equine Chronicle http://www.equinechronicle.com/breaking-news/grand-jury-indicts-rita-crundwell-for-allegedly-stealing-53-million-311-quarter-horses-subject-to-forfeiture.html

What's new for nonprofits

Remarks from a speech made by the director of IRS Exempt Organizations

http://www.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2012/insights-from-irs-on-nonprofits.aspx?hq_e=el&hq_m=1615743&hq_l=28&hq_v=5f5a877490

Dixon IL misappropriation Rita Crundwell

Now the $30 million over 6 years is $53 million over 20 years.
Here is the local news links
http://www.kwqc.com/story/17526287/employee-accused-of-stealing-30-million-from-dixon-il

Tribune coverage
 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-indictment-dixon-finance-chief-stole-53-million-since-1990-20120501,0,5768887.story

going concern blogger had been coverning over last few weeks - most recent post
http://goingconcern.com/post/oh-look-dixon-illinois-fraud-way-bigger-everyone-thought

Copy of the restraining order and other documents are available from this site.  For example the horse inventory listing has names of the horses.   There is a document from the city about the rules for the public meeting in Illinois  - three minute max to talk.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/92001283/Rita-A-Crundwell-Restraining-Order

The bank account was close to home
http://wqad.com/2012/05/01/dixon-worker-allegedly-took-city-mail/

City Auditor in Pennsylvania required to be a CPA

by vote this was approved by citizens.  http://accounting.smartpros.com/x73722.xml

Americans view of federal and state government

per the Pew Reporthttp://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/4-26-12%20Govt%20Favorability.pdf

62% of Americans surveyed have an unfavorable view of the Federal government.   Lowest rate in 15 years...

Governments harmonize? Oh go on!

IASB, IFAC, and IMF have encouraged governments to harmonize government and private-sector accounting standards.  The first sentence of this Economist article is not entirely true in the US, but I acknowledge that governments play games.   I, like the article says, will not hold my breath waiting for this suggestion to happen.
http://www.economist.com/node/21552221

The IMF Staff paper mentioned in the article and linked is of interest.   When looking at many governments across the globe, there is great variety, that I will admit. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2012/sdn1202.pdf

Best and worst run states

http://247wallst.com/2011/11/28/best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-an-analysis-of-all-50/

IRS data security at issue

per GAO http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74123.html

Federal accounting reporting

departments trying to do better http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/agency-financial-reporting-improves-somewhat/2012-03-05?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

The new Yellow Book independence standards

An archived webinar https://university.learnlive.com/Gui.aspx   and the handouts related to that.  http://www.aicpa.org/InterestAreas/GovernmentalAuditQuality/Resources/DownloadableDocuments/GAQC-Web-Event-on-New-YB-Nov182011.pdf   These two materials are freely accessible, although the template has a cost http://www.aicpa.org/InterestAreas/GovernmentalAuditQuality/Resources/AuditPracticeToolsAids/Pages/YellowBookAuditToolsandAids.aspx

FASB committee on Nonprofits

met and discussed http://www.bkd.com/articles/2012/FASB-not-for-profit-advisory-committee.htm

Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University

I ran across this Center that I had not been aware of.  It appears to be very promising for those interested in researching in the Nonprofit area.  http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/

For example I enjoyed the short Financial Literacy and Knowledge in the Nonprofit Sector recent publication from Feb 2012 http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/Research/docs/2012FinancialLiteracy.pdf

Public Sector Supplemental Guidance for auditing

is available to members of IIA http://www.theiia.org/guidance/standards-and-guidance/non-ippf-supported-material/   Several different publications

A citizen-centric approach to climbing a pyramid

This is taken from the E & Y website http://www.ey.com/US/en/Industries/Government---Public-Sector/Improving-government-financial-reporting

GAO critiques the IRS website

Believes a better plan and more tools are necessary.  http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/policy/232500323

The clock is ticking

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/