GFOA of the US & Canada

Cash Management Technology in State and Local Government: Results of a GFOA/JPMorgan Chase Survey

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GFOA and JPMorgan recently surveyed more than 900 state and local government finance officials to get a better feel for the extent to which these organizations are using collection and disbursement technologies, online banking services, and fraud prevention tools. This article summarizes the key findings from the survey.
R. Gregory Michel and Mark MacKenzie

Hold the Paper! Strategies for Automating Vendor Payments

Even though most organizations are aware of the potential benefits of migrating toward electronic methods of payment, both public and private sector organizations still rely on checks to pay vendors. Learn how your organization can automate vendor payments without incurring additional costs.
John Cox

Billing and Payment Options for Local Governments

In today’s financial environment, local governments have many different options when it comes to billing customers and collecting those payments. This article gives an overview of some of the most common options, with the goal of helping local governments determine which ones make the most sense for their situation.
Denise D. Hammond  

Beyond Total Return: Using a Fiduciary Standard to Evaluate Investment Performance

Most measures of local government investment performance focus on yield at the expense of other important investment policy objectives such as safety and liquidity. The best measure of a public portfolio’s performance is a fiduciary benchmark that addresses all of the investment objectives and provides relevant and reliable information on the effectiveness of a government’s stewardship of investment dollars.
Benjamin Finkelstein and Felicia Landerman

It’s Not Selling Out! Why and How Cities Should Pursue Sponsorships as an Alternative Revenue Source

As state and local governments look for alternatives to property and sales taxes, one potential source of revenue that may warrant some attention is corporate sponsorships and naming rights. The City of Scottsdale, Arizona, recently developed and adopted policies and procedures on sponsorship agreements that it hopes will lead to long-term fiscal benefits to the city.
Coryne Tasca and Lisa Murphy