Sessions: Budgeting and Forecasting
Sessions: Budgeting and Forecasting
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Mon 15 September
1 sessions
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Sun 28 June
2 sessions
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Mon 29 June
5 sessions
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Tue 30 June
4 sessions
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Wed 1 July
3 sessions
Browse by Topic:
Sessions for Monday, September 15
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Mon
15 Sep
3:00 PM - 4:40 PM ET
Developing the Personnel Budget
It’s often said that people are the greatest asset of any organization, and costs associated with people are often the largest portion of a local government’s operating budget. People are also complicated—they move around in the organization; they get raises; they change their benefit elections; they earn overtime, premium pay, and bonuses; they take leave; they retire.
2 CPE credits
Level: basic
More info
Sessions for Sunday, June 28
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Sun
28 Jun
2:50 PM - 3:40 PM ET
E354B
Building Upon a Strong Foundation: A Framework for Budget Process and Culture Change
Not only can a transformed budget process improve budget decisions, but it can also be used to set the tone for much larger organizational culture change. The budget process provides a great opportunity to demonstrate proactive strategic leadership, collaboration, fairness, transparency, and accountability. In this session, speakers will discuss how to develop a budget function that establishes a vision for budgeting and prioritizes trust, communication, and collective decision-making. This approach guides participants to set clear expectations, treat stakeholders fairly, and foster shared ownership and alignment.
1 CPE credits
Level: basic
More info -
Sun
28 Jun
4:00 PM - 4:50 PM ET
E253
It Always Seems Impossible Until It's Done: Voting Yes for a Tax Increase
Public hostility towards increasing prices is a powerful force that has dominated elections, news cycles, and everyday conversations recently. However, at the same time, some governments have also been successful in getting public support for tax increases.
1 CPE credits
Level: basic
More info
Sessions for Monday, June 29
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Mon
29 Jun
8:30 AM - 10:10 AM ET
E353
Questions and Answers: Understanding GFOA's New Budget Award Criteria
Trends in budgeting and technological advances have significantly changed the way that leading governments communicate budget information to stakeholders. Websites, dashboards, newsletters, videos, and other popular media can be more effective than a lengthy PDF document for communicating key messages. Based on research, member feedback, and recommendations from subject matter experts, GFOA is excited to update the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award.
2 CPE credits
Level: basic
More info -
Mon
29 Jun
8:55 AM - 10:10 AM ET
E354B
Accounting and Financial Reporting, Budgeting and Forecasting, Capital Planning and Asset Management
Ask Me Anything: Core Concepts in the Finance Office
Join a panel of subject-matter experts who will answer the questions you want to know more about—but have been afraid to ask. This session is for anyone looking to gain practical perspectives and a deeper understanding of the basics of government accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, and capital planning.
1.5 CPE credits
Level: basic
More info -
Mon
29 Jun
10:30 AM - 12:10 PM ET
E253
From Combative to Collaborative: A Better Approach to Police Staffing Conversations
Conversations between budget professionals and police chiefs about staffing sometimes devolve into combative exchanges. Staff in the budget office say, "I need you to reduce your budget," and the police chief says, "If I do that, crime will go through the roof!" An alternative to these types of conversations is to develop a data-driven approach that aligns police staffing with workload, desired outcomes, and fiscal context.
2 CPE credits
Level: advanced
More info -
Mon
29 Jun
10:30 AM - 12:10 PM ET
E354B
Strengthen Your Budget Bedrock with Long-Term Planning
Numerous governments struggle with connecting long-term planning to their budget. In order to earn the public's trust and demonstrate responsible stewardship of scarce tax dollars, governments need to show how the current budget both gets results over the next fiscal year and its impact on the long-term financial health of the organization. Building your budget on the bedrock of strong planning processes is the first step toward doing so. At this session, speakers will discuss their approach to long-term, operational, and strategic planning, how their organizations align the budget with these plans, and how this alignment enables more effective communication with the public and governing body.
2 CPE credits
Level: intermediate
More info -
Mon
29 Jun
4:45 PM - 5:35 PM ET
E353
Money, Myths, and Misinformation: Making Government Finance Make Sense
In an era of misinformation, skepticism toward institutions, and “AI-generated everything,” public trust in government has never been more fragile—or more essential. As communities face growing fiscal pressures and the need to pass critical levies, local governments must find new ways to engage residents and explain how public finance truly works.
1 CPE credits
Level: basic
More info
Sessions for Tuesday, June 30
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Tue
30 Jun
8:30 AM - 10:10 AM ET
E253
Know Thyself: Critically Examining Your Budget
For individuals, self-skepticism is about critically examining beliefs, methods, and assumptions, and being open to change. Individuals benefit from introspective questioning, and so can a government's budget—spending that no longer serves the community should be examined and replaced with better options. As GFOA's Rethinking Budgeting initiative points out, traditional budgeting tends to be less reflective. Incremental budgeting is guided by historical precedent, taking last year’s spending largely as a given. Governments cannot go to the other extreme, where everything is questioned constantly; this would quickly lead to burnout and acrimony among staff. This session will outline how finance professionals can apply different dimensions of self-skepticism to ensure limited resources are allocated in ways that best serve the community.
2 CPE credits
Level: advanced
More info -
Tue
30 Jun
10:30 AM - 12:10 PM ET
E450
Look for the Good: Communicating the Costs and Benefits of Government Services
Traditional government budgeting and accounting has focused on departments, cost centers, and expenditure objects that help describe how much the government is spending. This approach makes it easier to manage costs internally, but it does little to show all the good work the organization is doing to add value in the community.
2 CPE credits
Level: basic
More info -
Tue
30 Jun
10:30 AM - 12:10 PM ET
s401
Trending Topics in Rate-Setting with the Utility Finance Forum
Setting utility rates is a complex process. Utility operators are challenged to ensure their rates cover costs, including for much-needed capital investments while also maintaining affordability for their customers. Utilities also need to ensure they are accurately predicting future revenue based on evolving customer demands.
1 CPE credits
Level: overview
More info -
Tue
30 Jun
3:35 PM - 4:50 PM ET
E271
Be Honest. Do You Really Have Position Control?
Most finance, budget, and human resource professionals will agree that position control is critical to manage personnel costs, structure sound business processes, and implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. At the same time, it remains one of the most overlooked functions.
1.5 CPE credits
Level: basic
More info
Sessions for Wednesday, July 1
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Wed
1 Jul
8:55 AM - 10:10 AM ET
E450
Money Talks: Hot Topics in Revenue
Before finalizing decisions about allocating and spending money to provide the services and programs a community needs, governments should have a plan for how they will pay for them. Typical revenue sources include property and sales taxes, user fees, and intergovernmental transfers, but for many governments, the revenue portfolio they have relied on for decades is in flux.
1.5 CPE credits
Level: intermediate
More info -
Wed
1 Jul
10:30 AM - 12:10 PM ET
E450
This is Not the Way We've Always Done It: Finding a New Approach to Budget Communication
Effectively communicating budget information can be difficult. Government finance professionals must clearly articulate both financial and non-financial information to diverse stakeholders, each with their own level of fiscal literacy, biases, interests, and preferred style of communication. When finance professionals attempt to be everything to everyone, the budget message can easily become lengthy, confusing, and include irrelevant information. Rather than producing budgets simply because it has always been done, governments can identify better approaches.
2 CPE credits
Level: intermediate
More info -
Wed
1 Jul
10:30 AM - 12:10 PM ET
E353
Timeless or Trendy: Debating the Staying Power of Common Budget Fads
For the past 50 years, governments have discovered the "perfect" solution to address budgeting challenges only to revert back to their prior approach a few years later. At GFOA, we have witnessed the rise and fall of zero-based budgeting, budgeting for outcomes, participatory budgeting, biennial budgeting, and more only to see the trend revived a few years later.
2 CPE credits
Level: intermediate
More info