Managing Financial Distress

Fiscal distress can be caused by many factors, but in all cases, the finance officer must act to diagnose the cause, apply treatments, and work to restore fiscal sustainability. Whether your government finds itself in a budget crisis or is working towards preparing for the next recession, GFOA's Fiscal First Aid research series, developed originally to help deal with the 2009 Great Recession and then refined through the pandemic offers several strategies to reduce budget expenses, create flexibility, and assess risk associated with different options with the goal of long-term sustainability. This course provides an overview of GFOA’s 12 step approach for addressing fiscal distress and outlines the steps finance officers should take to guide their organizations through times of fiscal uncertainty and budget shortfalls.

Those who successfully complete this seminar should be able to:

• Identify the three stages of fiscal recovery
• Identify the twelve steps that make up GFOA’s Fiscal First Aid process
• Learn actions local governments can take to prepare for fiscal distress
• Learn how finance officers can take a more collaborative approach to addressing fiscal distress
• Understand how to assess the risks related to different types of Fiscal First Aid treatments and how to mitigate those risks
• Learn strategies for controlling and cutting personnel expenses
• Better integrate procurement practices to help in managing the budget
• Understand the role financial policies can play in addressing fiscal distress

This course is taught by experienced capital management practitioners and GFOA staff. Instructors will be familiar with GFOA best practices, are subject matter experts, and have experience as an analyst, finance director, budget director, CFO, or CEO of various size local governments.