Putting the Code Into Practice: Build Your Reputation for Trustworthiness

Here you can find practical strategies for putting the GFOA Code into practice. These are drawn from research into the experience of some of the most trusted local public financed officers within GFOA as well as from psychological research.

What’s Fair? Exploring the Behavioral Science of Justice and Fairness

GFOA’s Code of Ethics identifies fairness as one of five core values of the code. However, concerns about fairness are multifaceted and complex as well as social and political. GFOA has teamed with Ethical Systems to help define fairness and provide recommendations for local governments navigating issues of fairness within the context of public finance.

Transparency: A Means to Improving Citizen Trust in Government

Citizens’ trust in government is vital to a democratic system. Transparency is one way in which governments can build trust. However, “transparency” does not mean just making financial data available to the public. In fact, people do not rely solely or even primarily on logic and reason to form judgements, such as trust. Hence, governments must go beyond open and accessible data in order to build trust. This paper reviews the strengths and limitations of transparency strategies and other strategies, besides, transparency, that build trust.