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Browse more than 80 sessions at GFOA's 119th Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Raise your expectations! Changes are coming. Not today, not tomorrow, but before you know it, we will be re-evaluating revenue and expense recognition under an anticipated new principles-based model. This session will cover the latest updates on this project work and how it's expected to provide structure to recognition and measurement of some very complex revenue streams. It will also highlight how common revenue streams would be impacted by the proposed guidance.

Identify the key proposed provisions within the Revenue Recognition Exposure Draft.

Understand how the proposed model will assist governments with categorizing unique revenue.

Evaluate the impact of the proposed revenue recognition guidance on common transactions.

Director, Cherry Bekaert

Controller, Virginia Lottery, Richmond, Virginia

Get Exposed: Future Concepts for Revenue Recognition

Accounting and Financial Reporting

When it comes to personnel budgeting, few topics generate as much debate as how to approach budgeting for vacant positions. Should you budget the salary or wage on the low end or high end of the pay scale? Should you budget assuming the position will be filled for the entire budget period? Should you assume that some positions will become vacant through attrition during the budget period? While there's not a singular right answer to any of these questions, there are benefits and risks associated with the different approaches. 

At this session, panelists will discuss the pros and cons of the various methods for budgeting vacant positions so you can determine the best one for your organization.

Define turnover, attrition, and vacancy savings as they relate to personnel budgeting.

Describe the ways local governments budget for vacant positions.

Summarize the benefits and risks associated with different approaches to budgeting for vacant positions.

Budget Manager, City of Littleton, Colorado

To Budget, or Not to Budget...for Vacancy Savings

Budgeting and Forecasting

A year after implementing GASB 100, governments were tasked with implementing GASB 101. While GASB 100 focused on the display and presentation of accounting changes and error corrections in the financial statements, GASB 101 changed the recognition and measurement of compensated absences liabilities. Join speakers as they reflect on their experiences preparing for and implementing these new standards. 

The session will also highlight trends from GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement (COA) program to help ensure governments are correctly meeting the accounting and reporting requirements.

Identify the requirements of GASB 100 and GASB 101.

Apply the measurement requirements to calculate the compensated absences liability.

Discuss trends in the implementations from the COA program reviews.

Partner, Crowe, LLP

Assistant Finance Director, City of College Station, Texas

Chief Technical Specialist, Ohio Auditor of State

Reflections in the Pool: Looking Back at Recent GASB Changes

The application of the materiality concept is important to understand in the preparation of financial statements. This session will discuss the framework of materiality thresholds that audit professionals must use and how various fund types are impacted by materiality. 

Attendees will also gain insight into how the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) incorporates the concept of materiality in making its cost-benefit determination for every pronouncement and the intent behind their disclaimer "the provisions of this Statement need not be applied to immaterial items."

Describe how various reporting units in a government's financial statements are subject to different materiality thresholds.

Discuss the impact of materiality on the auditors' opinion on the financial statements and the effect of immaterial uncorrected misstatements.

Identify opportunities to participate in cost-benefit considerations with GASB during project deliberations.

Director of Research and Technical Activities, Governmental Accounting Standards Board

Financial Audit Specialist, Office of the Washington State Auditor, Olympia, Washington

To Be or Not to Be: Issues in Defining Materiality

Let's talk about disclosures that coordinate with, but don't actually tie to numbers in the statements. Disclosures on tax abatement agreements, conduit debt outstanding, unused lines of credit, and certain risk disclosures are required by GAAP and should be reviewed annually to ensure the information presented is complete and accurate. These disclosures present a challenge because they take time to draft and often require information from outside the finance office.

This session will cover the requirements of these disclosures and examples from government preparers. Panelists will also discuss a current GASB project that might add a new qualitative disclosure to the financial statements: Going Concern Uncertainties and Severe Financial Stress.

Identify the required disclosure components for tax abatements, conduit debt, and certain risk disclosures.

Outline the steps required to track and prepare the disclosures.

Describe the concepts of GASB's Preliminary Views document on severe financial stress.

Assistant City Administrator/Chief Financial Officer, City of Franklin, Tennessee

Partner, Government & Public Sector Sub-Line Leader, CRI Advisors LLC

Financial Reporting Manager, Travis County, Texas

Trust is an asset as important as any that can be found on any government balance sheet. However, by several different measures, trust in government has decreased in recent years. This lack of trust can hamper the ability for local governments to provide needed services to the community, raise sufficient revenue, or demonstrate value. Similarly, distrust among colleagues within a government can stifle collaboration. 

GFOA’s Code of Ethics provides a playbook for how finance professionals can earn the trust of the public and their colleagues. At this session, learn the key elements of the code and how it can help you be most effective in your role.

Identify the key elements of GFOA’s Code of Ethics.

Discuss how GFOA’s Code of Ethics can help public servants earn the trust of the public and their colleagues.

Explain how the lack of trust among colleagues and from the public can negatively impact a local government’s operations.

Director of Treasury, Frederick County, Maryland

Director of Finance/Town Treasurer, Town of Culpeper, Virginia

Director of Finance, Henrico County, Virginia

Trust in Government: Applying GFOA's Code of Ethics

Leadership, Ethics, and Trust

Dan Heath is the co-author of multiple #1 New York Times bestselling books, including Switch and Made to Stick. His latest book, Reset: How to Change What's Not Working, offers a guide to identifying leverage points and concentrating resources to achieve goals. During his keynote presentation, Dan will provide strategies to unlock forward movement, accelerate change, and achieve dramatically better results.

During the Annual Business Meeting, GFOA's active members will select new members of the Executive Board and vote on policy statements that have been prepared by the standing committees and recommended for approval by GFOA's Executive Board. 

Tuesday Keynote

GFOA President, City Manager, City of Martensville, SK

GFOA President Elect, Chief Financial Officer, Norwalk Public Schools

General Session & Annual Business Meeting

There is no single path to becoming a finance officer. GFOA's 25,000+ members have just as many different motivations, stories, and journeys that have led them to this stage in their careers. However, they all now share the responsibility for maintaining trust, supporting their community, and working to build sustainable organizations despite increasing pressure from political polarization, workforce challenges, and overall distrust of government. 

During this session, hear from several finance professionals about their career progression, how their experience puts them in a position to deal with current challenges, and what drives their dedication to the profession.

Explore the challenges of working in public finance.

Discuss professional development opportunities in the field.

Systems Analyst, Oklahoma City Fire Department, Oklahoma

Business Manager, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Finance Director, City of Duluth, Minnesota

Senior Manager of Marketing and Digital Experiences

Customers today appreciate the many different ways they can make payments. Forgot your wallet on your trip to City Hall to pay your water bill? No problem—pay with your phone! Didn’t have a stamp to drop off your property tax payment in the mail and it's due tomorrow? No worries—pay from the convenience of your home. As payment options continue to evolve, it's important for the treasury office to adapt to meet the needs of its customers. 

New payment technologies represent important advancements that are a win-win for the government and users. Providing more options within the payment ecosystem enhances customer service offerings, which can lead to increases in revenue collections. Industry experts and peer case studies will be highlighted to showcase how new technologies can enhance your government’s receivables operations.

Identify technologies to accept digital wallets, tap-to-pay credit cards, phones, and wearables

Explain how QR codes can be used to drive payments to mobile channels

Describe how payment kiosks can be utilized to accept payments for multiple types of receivables, both on- and off-site

Discuss how payments can be made over the phone in a safe and secure way

CFO, Town of Gilbert, Arizona

Assistant City Manager/Chief Financial Officer, City of Roseville, California

Market Executive-Public Sector Banking, Bank of America

Implementing Customer-focused Treasury Technologies

ERP Systems and Technology

Treasury and Investment Management

Internal service functions like finance, budget, procurement, human resources, and information technology serve important internal customers. However, it can be difficult to develop policies, set clear expectations, respond to feedback, and deliver excellent results. It's also a challenge to allocate funding for these internal services when compared to programs that directly benefit the public. 

This session will examine the pros and cons of establishing internal service funds, discuss strategies for allocating costs, define program parameters, and highlight the role of service-level agreements in communicating with stakeholders and gaining organizational buy-in.

Discuss the benefits and challenges of treating finance, HR, procurement, and other administrative functions as internal services.

Share examples of local governments that have established service-level agreements for finance and HR functions.

Describe how to get department stakeholders on board with allocating costs for finance and HR.

Director of Finance, City of Lawrence, Kansas

Deputy CFO, City of Gainesville, Georgia

Director of Financial Services, Utah County, Provo, Utah

The Customer is Always Right: Defining and Managing Internal Services

City Treasurer, City of Oklahoma City

Treasurer, Ramsey County, Minnesota

Director of Finance, Upper St. Clair Township, Pennsylvania

Treasury Charcuterie: Nibbles for the Finance Professional

After ten years in development, GASB issued statement 103, Financial Reporting Model Improvements, in June 2024. This session will explore the changes to the Management's Discussion and Analysis, the reporting of the budgetary comparison schedules, and the presentation of discretely presented component units. 

Changes to the proprietary fund activity statement, including the new definition and reporting of subsidies, will be a key point of focus. The session will highlight report examples from the newest Illustrative ACFR.

Evaluate the impact of the new requirements on the contents of the Management's Discussion and Analysis

Discuss the new definition of a subsidy and the presentation of subsidies in proprietary fund financial statements

Describe GFOA's illustrative ACFR resource and the GASB requirements that are reflected in the most recent edition

Financial Systems and Project Management Manager, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Washington, DC

Partner, RubinBrown, LLP, St. Louis, Missouri

As more and more governments struggle to retain and recruit employees, many are realizing that they need to increase pay for their employees, but are unsure about exactly how to go about doing so. How much should your organization increase compensation levels? Is it appropriate to pay bonuses or establish market rates to compete for qualified staff? And how do you determine what the appropriate market rate is? 

This session will explain how you can revise your government's approach to compensation and how to communicate changes to staff and elected officials. Speakers will offer advice and insight on these questions and more to help you develop a game plan for adjusting compensation levels in your organization.

Identify the key factors to consider when making decisions about employee compensation levels in your organization.

Describe the challenges related to increasing employee compensation and the risks of not doing so.

Summarize how other local governments have implemented employee compensation increases.

Senior Consultant, MGT Impact Solutions, LLC

Director of Financial Services, City of Sedona, California

The Price is Right? How to Set Compensation Levels in Government

Compensation and Benefits

A key tenet of GFOA's Rethinking Budgeting initiative is to encourage government budget professionals to think of themselves as chefs rather than as cooks. No two governments or communities are exactly the same, so what works for one may not work for yours. Rather than follow a specific checklist or recipe for budget success, GFOA encourages you to harness your inner chef and create your own recipe. 

This panel discussion will feature budget leaders who have embraced the role of chef and are experimenting with new budget ingredients and techniques to satisfy their stakeholders.

Identify the critical skills needed to become a budget professional.

Understand how creativity, flexibility, and adaptability are valuable for a government budget professional.

Learn how you can practice applying your budget skills to refine your own budget recipe.

Budget Director, Loudoun County, Virginia

Be a Chef: Creating Your Own Recipe for Budget Success

This year's Congress ushered in significant shifts in economic policies, fiscal priorities, tax implications, and market dynamics. This timely panel will highlight the political climate in Washington, DC, and the impact of the election on the municipal bond space. 

Our panelists will have an in-depth discussion on how the conversations about immigration, climate, and tax reform will shape the municipal bond market and other funding streams. Whether you are managing your organization's debt, treasury functions, or budgets, this session will provide essential insights to help you adapt to the evolving market.

Analyze recent tax reforms and their impact on state and municipal finance.

Understand changes to tax credit structures and implications for state and local governments.

Develop strategies for optimizing financial planning under updated tax laws.

Capital Finance Director, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California

Managing Director, Chief Analytical Officer, S&P Global Ratings

Exploring the Impact of Tax Code Changes on the Municipal Bond Market

Federal Advocacy

Debt Management

Finance professionals are always looking for ways to improve their revenue forecasting abilities. Artificial intelligence (AI), with its ability to analyze and summarize huge amounts of data quickly, is a new tool that holds much promise in this area, but finance professionals should also keep in mind other, more traditional skills and strategies for improving revenue forecasts. These low-tech opportunities include enhancing your understanding of the factors that influence your revenues and building your audience's confidence in your forecasts. 

At this session, panelists will discuss both the high-tech tools and low-tech strategies that finance professionals can use in tandem to optimize their revenue forecasting.

Discuss opportunities for local governments to use artificial intelligence and other new technologies to improve revenue forecasting.

Describe how finance professionals can increase their audience's confidence in their revenue forecasts.

Develop influence maps that outline the factors that are driving your main sources of revenue.

Budget Administrator, Roanoke County, Virginia

Deputy Auditor-Controller, Riverside County, California

Director of Budget Services, Town of Flower Mound, Texas

Director of Finance, City of Naperville, Illinois

Finance Director, City of Rifle, Colorado

Target Practice: Exploring High- and Low-Tech Options for Revenue Forecasting

Governments of all sizes must deal with a growing list of threats to the community, including natural disasters, infrastructure failures, disease outbreaks, and public safety emergencies, but smaller organizations are particularly susceptible to the financial impacts of these risks. Small governments can mitigate these impacts by conducting a risk assessment and developing reserves. 

Panelists will discuss the importance of having reserves, developing policies to govern their use, and ensuring that reserves are a part of an overall risk mitigation strategy focused on business continuity and financial sustainability. This session is sponsored by GFOA's Small Government Forum and will include a brief business meeting of the group and provide an opportunity for member networking.

Describe how to conduct a basic risk assessment.

Explain the importance of reserves as a tool to mitigate risks.

Share examples of small governments that have conducted a risk assessment and put reserve policies in place.

Finance Director, City of Sharonville, Ohio

Assistant Finance Director, City of Sharonville, Ohio

Big Questions for Small Governments: Appropriate Reserve Levels Based on Risk

Risk Assessment

Money is constantly flowing in and out of your government. Sometimes that money is held by an intermediary for a matter of hours or minutes or for longer periods of time. Governments need to know not only where their money is being held—in bank accounts, with custodians, with merchant providers, etc.—but also understand if that money is safe. 

This session will highlight how to conduct due diligence on financial services providers and develop strong policies and processes to ensure that public funds are safeguarded and best serve your organization.

Identify and conduct due diligence on the financial entities where your government may have funds.

Explain the importance of keeping your money safe when it’s in the hands of third parties, including the importance of collateralization.

Describe how your money can be working for you, even if it’s only held for a short period of time.

CFO/Director of Administrative Services, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District

CEO, three+one, Rochester, New York

Chief Deputy, Marion County Treasurer's Office, Indiana

Dude, Where's My Money? Safeguarding Public Funds

Collaboration and trust are essential for governments to build and sustain thriving communities. Partnering with the public is important for understanding community needs, identifying solutions, and balancing competing priorities. Similarly, working together across departments can maximize the use of limited resources. Trust is crucial to ensure that all stakeholders participate in the budget process and unite to support shared goals. 

This session will highlight governments that have built structures to support a more collaborative budget process. Panelists will discuss the challenges they faced along the way, the strategies they used to overcome them, how they cultivated trust, and how other governments can learn from their experiences.

Describe the benefits of budget collaboration.

Explain how to overcome barriers that hinder teamwork.

Share examples of local governments that have implemented a more cooperative approach to budgeting.

Executive Analyst, King County, Washington

Chief Financial Officer, Stafford County, Virginia

Executive Analyst, King County Office of Performance, Strategy and Budget, Seattle, Washington

City Finance Director, City of Bothell, Washington

Come Together: Building a More Collaborative Budget Process

Governments are under constant pressure to deliver efficient and effective programs and services with the limited resources they have available. Ideally, when legislators and executives propose new projects, decision-makers are using data, not their gut instincts, to determine what activities to support. There are different ways to obtain data to support new initiatives, including contacting other governments, running a pilot project, partnering with academic researchers, or accessing information from suppliers. 

This session will show you how to find relevant information, best use it to help guide decision-making, initiate a new program, and measure its success (or failure).

Identify where to find existing research on local government program evaluation.

Gain a basic understanding of how to read and interpret research findings.

Determine partners who can assist with performing program evaluation research.

Describe how to get a pilot program off the ground.

Associate Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University

Vice President & Local Practice Lead, Results for America, New York, New York

Fraud remains one of the most significant threats to the integrity of treasury operations. These threats have serious financial and reputational impacts, and with new forms of fraud popping up all the time, treasury managers can feel like they're playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. 

This session will equip attendees with essential knowledge and practical strategies to build a robust defense against fraud in treasury offices, from both internal and external threats.

Explain how to detect potential weak points in treasury operations that could be exploited by fraudsters.

Discuss best practices for establishing strong internal controls to prevent fraudulent activities, including the development of policies and procedures.

Develop a culture of vigilance and awareness among treasury staff to combat fraud.

Finance Director, City & Borough of Juneau, Alaska

Build Your Treasury Fortress: Fraud Prevention Practices in the Treasury Office

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is just about everywhere and becoming even more prevalent. While early adopters were able to use AI to conduct research, generate images, summarize data, write memos, provide feedback, and refine ideas, it is capable of transforming how local governments manage finances and is integrated with core processes. 

This session will explore current technologies and uses for AI, explain how to engage suppliers, and provide strategies for understanding risks and overcoming implementation challenges. Through practical examples and expert insights, this session empowers finance professionals to harness AI effectively and to work on developing strategies to better position your organization in the future.

Understand current capabilities of AI within public finance.

Develop a strategy for understanding risks with AI and current implementation challenges.

Position your organization to take advantage of AI tools in the future.

KPMG Distinguished Professor of Accounting Information Systems, Rutgers University

Ready or Not: Managing Artificial Intelligence in the Finance Office

Financial sustainability ranked among the top challenges identified in the American Water Works Association's (AWWA) 2024 State of the Water Industry Report. AWWA has created a Water 2025 Vision to promote a more sustainable and resilient future for the water industry and the critical service it provides to all our communities. 

Attend this session to better understand how you can get involved and prepare your organization to address critical questions related to building appropriate infrastructure, mitigating risks from natural and human caused disaster, pricing services, avoiding economic burden on our most vulnerable communities, and building and maintaining public trust. This session provides a glimpse into our water future through the lens of financial sustainability, innovation, and partnerships.

Gain an understanding of AWWA’s Water 2050 initiative.

Learn about additional tools and resources to help solve financial sustainability problems.

Identify resources for financial resiliency.

Understand the issues and obstacles to full-cost pricing models.

CEO, American Water Works Association

The Future of Water: Finance and the Path to Sustainability

Budgeting involves the process of estimating costs and revenues, allocating limited resources among competing needs, balancing community expectations with service-level realities, and driving results for the community. Finance professionals need to possess a variety of technical and leadership skills to navigate the budget process, conduct accurate analysis, and promote effective decision making. However, it often takes a completely different skill set to communicate these decisions to those without detailed budget and finance knowledge. 

119th Annual Conference Sessions: Federal Advocacy

Browse by topic:

Sessions for Sunday, June 29

No federal advocacy sessions for June 29

Sessions for Monday, June 30

Exploring the Impact of Tax Code Changes on the Municipal Bond Market

Sessions for Tuesday, July 1

GFOA's 2025 Federal Advocacy Update

Sessions for Wednesday, July 2

No federal advocacy sessions for July 2