Governmental Affairs

 

Co-Chairs:

Steve Glickman, CPA, CGFO, Chief Financial Officer, Town of Addison
Blu Kostelich, Chief Financial Officer, City of Lubbock
John Zagurski, MPA, CGFO, Finance Director, Town of Northlake

Important Links:

Governmental Accounting Standards Board     www.gasb.org

Best Best Practices and Advisories    http://www.gfoa.org/best-practices

Certificate Programs     http://www.gfoa.org/coa

The Office of Municipal Securities    http://www.sec.gov/municipal

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board     http://www.msrb.org

 

Statement of Purpose:

The great recession, the collapse of the financial markets and the continuing financial stress of many prominent governments have created an environment of scrutiny and increased regulation that is unprecedented in the history of U.S. local governments. Rarely does a week go by that there is not a new proposal for regulating or a new criticism of local governments. These proposals come from many sources. The most familiar is of course the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has always had jurisdiction in the case of fraud and now with passage of the Dodd-Frank Act could have the direct regulatory authority over local governments in regards to municipal debt securities. In addition, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) is also having an increasing impact (albeit indirect) on government issuers.
Therefore it is the mission of this committee to:
1) Proactively respond to proposed regulation of government with the goal of both protecting governments from bad regulations and promoting positive, common sense disclosure.
2) Promote and encourage our member governments to improve their financial reporting and financial disclosure practices.
3) Coordinate with the legislative committee regarding state and federal legislation of a financial reporting or financial compliance nature.
4) Actively participate in GFOAT conferences by suggesting session topics of on financial reporting and speaking at those sessions.

Recent Response Documents: